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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and 5 Q- N. T A! p, \! L: N
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment K% I- S' v, D6 `$ ?
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
1 o3 l# q9 f* N2 v680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment% }. Y( j, ?+ x5 @' U& ?
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for" M' I1 ]+ ]8 p% S4 h B5 I
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the current price look at this link ( _7 m5 L2 {' X: U7 z, q
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% ! s! q% c" R$ ^
increase in housing cost!: b! a0 y; N, M9 ], A0 E
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying 7 X& ]- Z2 M# X
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 ; K9 H. \# @+ Z+ h) g4 a$ W
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international 4 {3 x% N) b% D
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, / y. i0 P; A( a V; }/ Y* ?# f
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers b5 _% J1 Y9 v6 v- Y2 Y7 [! e: {
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were & \* @9 |( R& j J6 R, u
asked to look for a residence on open market.0 j' J2 |! f# l6 B
. d# d {+ J8 |While the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has : }) `, E1 ~) w3 n2 u
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid R) t+ I2 |0 `% d* c5 P
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our 3 j6 ^; {* h( I! O
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students ' e$ H. \% z; i2 x! e
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after : ^* H/ d2 o, ]9 g
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
+ C6 A% ]( g+ }$ z7 l7 }imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am
9 s/ q+ j( M7 Igetting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
& X1 `2 r, t Y. q' [4 zus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
% @3 Z0 C; \0 Y0 J/ c0 ` {admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
$ m* r. n3 r' S3 A4 }Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
4 E8 w+ Q4 B# Q) e" N- mfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate : Y& U- F5 q6 ]: o0 s
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.! H0 z! q& V- K. ]# b' ^8 A
3 T9 V; N3 C$ ~5 T9 j- _My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 0 U& J/ o- U$ n. T
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and / M: G @* a$ c. F% b& E# n
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take3 f) x2 w+ H. V7 s* s
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for ( N* l% @3 I9 k6 M& E7 K5 Z9 R
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?% ~& G) \& S4 K- l6 x1 M: N, c4 K
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
. T: L3 j" K wThank you all
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