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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and 6 C/ W: d& N: g% D8 ~4 e( M; |# K( H" U
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment E/ ~' ]9 ?+ L! I
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for . e! f0 J' o0 x% x( W, V
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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the current price look at this link 5 O+ j* L4 {/ S" ]* I
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
+ {( M: Z0 a8 W: n4 M4 Gincrease in housing cost!3 V8 @$ M1 n4 _- X4 q8 v
: @! {/ o7 H1 T8 S, P7 W+ [: ZWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying , T3 X. [- ?# @# [7 ~
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.8 w0 h; B j7 N: n; i; l' C, a h/ I
- G$ \1 J, w/ f3 U! o" sOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university # @/ {/ B1 h* M# V/ s
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
' v$ H( A1 N9 B0 X* Ldifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
$ |& e% L: F. g" Ithe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
0 _# N0 q7 }) K$ S) @. x$ G Vand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
( v0 E) |/ n; M# r* Zasked to look for a residence on open market.
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' A2 y& k, [8 M- }' V1 b( ^4 NWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
1 Q3 F+ P7 d/ H( U/ O! T& ]- P/ X* |! Bincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid 1 o9 z/ |" p: [ w) n
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our 1 E+ ~# d! x/ \2 J" w4 n" V, y/ g9 P
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
7 g2 P" b) J+ F8 S% ~=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after . V2 ]( P+ t, U. `/ j1 j: w8 @ G1 a, M
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
0 ]2 {' H' o, ]; Dimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am
& ?* W% N9 Y/ i3 G8 u, xgetting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of 5 m. z( J) ^: ~, A
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
! |/ i; C+ C. ?/ ladmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.% t b- Q. x1 Y; [
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
5 H8 t- b, N( e/ X" J' }' yAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
9 a( h/ f! }6 O6 Dfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 4 Z( G& c. q7 V% t+ j
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
8 S" `; L; P5 C% z3 W; z8 E* U/ uis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and 2 c; W9 p J( Z" h
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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3 Q) T- P; e% e7 J4 G- J! @0 e% finitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for 2 H0 A4 W+ E. I0 e3 b# x- P0 d" w
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?3 i( ]; n" S! Y4 J, A4 t
: h% h ~3 w4 E& w' b b- c
Please come with your experiences and ideas.
5 n# c& E1 p/ k/ e3 kThank you all
- R+ C2 Y; t% `8 h! yAli |
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