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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
& p b* c$ A3 I4 z" Z+ \my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment 8 l7 Y" w2 k6 w
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
2 Z' f" b7 y: T4 ]4 I9 @, H- W680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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9 b- b% h; Z1 P' J. Xis 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 - R3 r7 w+ {! c/ K! g. L
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
1 J( p S: A4 Hincrease in housing cost!9 Q" H0 [- ], B& a$ p* y
% s. O" B {4 { V8 m7 k4 [( {While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying 6 [& \' E( n' g
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month., i9 }+ C. d2 q: B9 E4 \" N
. z% U: ]% q/ O# F2 ], qOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university
& l% P7 S9 p' ^! E0 m ^; p6 Eincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
$ o, ~7 E7 p( n% x& _differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, # A: A) a) x, @
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers 8 {5 h& O) Q! o
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were & f2 m5 _ J/ u$ z1 s5 d
asked to look for a residence on open market.
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; ^6 P& _6 x G* U0 }While the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has . a# z; u8 |: D7 ^
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
- {, `% p; H# q6 Lexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our $ \' Y2 U) o% T. e3 a$ m! {
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
& u) J7 W, Q: c" {=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
% D6 W9 q1 L: _1 I) N' b1 Gtuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just * [* B# \, `+ j E
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am - B0 l, H( n3 M5 f! B2 H, U
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of , G% F$ y' v# E2 \6 Z y# j
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was . ?; \- J$ v) N( Q5 B) K0 a; H
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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3 f: i+ p9 O* k, L3 v6 m9 W% vAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
$ G- `3 q2 o* k. t9 IAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants % U6 P3 e$ W. {% f2 }: j
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
/ |# L: S& o9 X" C1 K: K6 Sstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 0 J3 m1 ?7 T9 W1 M8 P4 t
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
1 `0 P6 {6 b8 |: z2 ]8 mespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take" @% r2 P8 ^( }) ?6 [( e w7 Z0 h
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
: c. j0 n: b+ S I, wgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?3 h2 S% j, d+ x
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
+ v, d, Z% G1 n3 L3 \- ZThank you all
1 b1 H/ j$ {6 Y. T* zAli |
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