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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
1 G6 ^7 J" [& j! U0 b ^my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
5 ^* P8 D K, K+ o% f/ m$ G$ J! Zin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for 5 O& A& ?; R3 l# N" j
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment/ F( e7 s* H8 A" r2 I
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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* b" X0 ^5 I$ l& z" }the current price look at this link
) x" y& f: k# c; C" f2 [* R+ Ihttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
; \, `! P, L2 s/ P) Cincrease in housing cost!
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4 g: I, |, ]4 G: cWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
5 Y3 H5 {; ^ z" E600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university
9 N( B, N. Z8 F Eincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international ) x w% |: V: }* e. }
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, " c/ Y- e ~: C4 u w+ {
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers 3 G8 A0 @( k u, M
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
+ U4 ^9 Q. v( \' e/ r2 z2 |' wasked to look for a residence on open market.
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: s$ x' V9 S5 a) M" R5 Z2 F; E q! QWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has ( A1 L4 p4 I) g1 O% \7 c' O
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid $ c# _/ X- Y9 d+ E! R
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our ; n2 v, k0 t0 J" r* ?2 h
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students 9 `& n( h \8 p- c5 g7 A( n- T
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after 2 Y4 ^# B0 e4 h/ F# ~$ Q% W' V
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
' _1 K( M2 Y8 W2 r ]0 Himagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am 4 u; q6 w* x8 o
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of / c a7 m( s5 o) I ~
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was ' o Y2 n: c4 e( P3 ^; f# m
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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6 Y8 u3 ~4 y$ {, ]! U1 uAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of 5 k) P {8 o( D R5 @
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
+ C5 `1 A; A# A1 I$ u# Dfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 0 _: Y8 S( J+ v: U2 _; M
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.& `0 r" w0 l6 I/ g
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
, Y, K% U* g. C3 I; G" Pis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
' h) P7 j5 x0 m; V/ Gespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take5 x6 S. } I9 ~; L* g
3 Y; v1 H* O% j iinitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
& }+ _( [$ @& ~" Bgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.1 T2 _' T. L; O2 ~$ r* A
Thank you all
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