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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and + O: B8 [8 D0 D( o
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
. U7 g4 N" o" ?1 W" h8 J) win one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
& @/ F4 f( }/ N( ^' {+ K+ l680 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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9 j9 k1 f, }9 H! Othe current price look at this link ' M0 r: z" `: |* U& x
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
$ L, R' j3 D' O0 N& b3 L0 D0 cincrease in housing cost!1 P+ e/ o: Y8 T7 ^* k& t5 h8 @0 U6 a. a
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying ' `, m9 J; Y Q
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university
' t k6 G- m5 sincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international & S1 E, o( S4 W* _
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, % a3 v; H. F9 B, Y' T
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers - A; N5 S* i' [! Z
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were 9 V* D! \( t: [ h3 I0 J$ p! M' G
asked to look for a residence on open market.6 M. `: y1 s |: }
F3 o6 M$ C. r6 e; UWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
+ k; L- F- e! ~8 L8 oincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
5 Q/ M; S$ y& \1 C5 S9 Cexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
" q- j2 W9 p4 c- o- q) h9 {admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
6 h! C; U' |/ H8 o! Z" Z4 K- G U=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after 5 D/ ]. p& ?; C, ^8 \9 `3 M$ y
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just $ r, j7 \5 h$ x! N- V- j
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am ' v3 P: q3 ]- u4 F1 v
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of ( ^8 [* `1 g* M" b8 f+ z
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
, z- W0 r r' {% y9 }admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.9 ]: l- d" K% a" ?* K# n( E
1 p1 \2 C8 s( e KAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of 4 o, F: P' I( W4 g2 |, E
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants # [, a, F4 C, j9 c- O6 |
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 4 K- g# F+ \; a5 a5 }: X, \
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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* ^8 q) g6 b( R6 tMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 1 a2 V8 b* G% R
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
/ {8 C8 K$ `6 n/ | Y. V' Gespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
0 i/ g* d& M+ ?9 v+ U0 Ngraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?' n( d& j2 L% l/ |
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
! W. `7 b& D) [Thank you all
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