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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and / _# ]4 G! K& b; p
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
4 B9 i3 w1 F" o7 h% W$ xin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for , m9 V6 X) g/ \2 n. K
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment, [6 z" P* P% x
8 f1 I, I+ _7 E& a6 O& Y. m
is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for4 J3 e: y! I4 i' D" q0 j9 h" u
" y% v; B2 L0 P7 mthe current price look at this link
8 b# X- w. ]5 d) U, qhttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
. [1 v: G) Z0 L9 o6 [# E- M# Hincrease in housing cost!
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8 P( P$ r0 T& q# U+ U% [1 SWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
/ ]: y2 O; B7 A" u n8 T' F% G600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
$ C/ q2 G. o' Z* V8 W( M
% {9 S. ^6 I, F9 ?/ POther costs of leaving have also increased and the university
. b3 p" C5 Z% r* Q: L, G+ n' ~1 @+ u& jincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
$ p. J4 k% h4 B- Rdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
. n ?4 ], D5 jthe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
* f. F' g4 R% tand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
0 @) d: Z9 D7 T# `3 {asked to look for a residence on open market.
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2 F0 u) B d# S# h9 e- sWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
0 R) Z/ ~- p& j) W9 P9 `9 Rincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
2 C# |& K# u: o3 @8 texactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our 6 a6 Y& |- |8 v5 F* |# W M
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
" z9 w, [* E4 M, C- A=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after - y" j7 B, v: U/ Z" k2 e6 W
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just : u6 O# R3 H, z! A% }& A
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am $ D6 m& A7 B4 p$ t Y
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of 4 |3 h9 b7 w7 S
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
3 d- g' p9 @/ m) y) ^admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.: f0 O$ N: k7 N% {2 {
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of 5 L! `5 f! q0 f+ q% s
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
7 I1 y& H6 `2 T: D' lfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 0 w. H$ P" X# T
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.( i- X, x- F# ?6 e* ]
# i, E5 S6 f+ ^6 Y% ? N3 `My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 6 A5 f1 }2 z$ i# g: {7 u& ~
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and ) ]$ N0 S) b/ W: x* H, c4 [% P
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take9 ?4 @# ?. B% v: i0 Q* ?
6 q- G# N: Z) _. tinitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
; \, r" b6 x/ u# C0 P5 _2 R5 c$ N6 d$ rgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
9 j+ C& ?: M' n1 ?( o& t/ f6 s. PThank you all3 x E# K. O9 I
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