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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
' I3 F( v7 C6 B, X9 [, Emy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment ! u" l- _" `$ ^6 N
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
3 P4 {( {- ]- P) f680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment5 v. R4 e& q8 v) T
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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/ H# `% P2 y! H7 |the current price look at this link
" v7 _5 [0 i; O( V# A: c% M' F8 Whttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
. K8 w2 N6 g. h# h! Tincrease in housing cost!6 [! ^* i* M1 P6 c% f4 D" j3 n
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying ' ~0 M+ \: d2 B. k
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.3 U; Q% G/ z, w& H
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Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university / q7 k& L6 A8 o! J; A
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international ! w6 D1 ~8 E8 [+ @' W9 R% ^
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, 4 A" ^! `8 @0 x8 r) \
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
% ]/ b) p0 z/ @, }+ Nand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were $ R- h" m3 U. q/ x
asked to look for a residence on open market.
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While the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
5 i( J% ?: g% Cincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
1 a( l* B# ^9 iexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
4 b ]5 @/ S6 d U" r. k Hadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students , N$ G ?. C. e3 F, S- u b
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
$ x2 n% A+ d8 M% i5 htuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just # E+ A* U8 K: e$ ?) f9 H8 @/ \
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am 8 h$ ~5 t9 ?. b$ ]5 g6 D
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of * J2 N/ e& T/ m4 B- r# V$ B, l
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was * |8 s/ f$ Z, E) i
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 1 K5 Y/ u" a7 B- x
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
2 w' h) D" f5 {5 L5 Hfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
3 \" S% m' y' r2 z; m5 Fstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
% x2 x: G6 E( a4 Z5 Ris to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
6 y, C: p" _- y! q% T" bespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take7 Z- {# Z6 ?# F6 Z6 o8 ?2 v
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for 1 Q' s+ H$ _: N) C4 g& n, r. D$ O
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?4 M% B5 o9 X6 ` A9 C3 d
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
; h+ t# K; Y4 {7 E8 l$ Y3 d6 W2 hThank you all
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