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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
6 A0 y) Q1 P* v- \$ Q& Smy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
: f* p' K+ `2 L# e D' J9 Bin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for / z4 J0 {8 e/ H+ u+ M5 n O8 W0 c4 R
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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: a8 Z( L4 m4 c* U7 s" n& wis more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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the current price look at this link
' @( d1 z/ a$ Whttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% N8 Q1 N7 Z6 ~
increase in housing cost!' J9 V: V f3 q% a* X. F1 w
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
}6 }/ ^, l* I' U600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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) j& G V5 g& |, S% f- Z6 LOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university + P) z8 V( ^/ M6 A. J" R ^ e
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
3 l* j2 ~9 w2 d6 c: q7 S) |( s5 Qdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
* u5 p# Y% H" j$ N# f, u5 R( Rthe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
5 W& A _( D4 U8 n3 B5 jand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
* q; [9 r% E% u9 u- s% I) Oasked to look for a residence on open market.
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While the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
3 _4 {1 s$ T+ p2 C' A' bincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid Y- k8 c/ h1 H" a: Y3 p
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our 4 E6 M9 T) k) `5 `; O9 U
admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
2 t" ?+ W# f. R& h8 T; X=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after . s- d1 _6 Y ~$ P4 P' Q
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just 6 e" U3 U- K$ Q
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am % X w% {, H2 p R: L4 ]. `5 E
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
- p1 y+ l! C" q% Nus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
0 h) w" @2 k, Z- l. v+ o* Xadmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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% y3 k) G% k9 \& T5 BAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of + V4 g9 e3 g0 F0 B+ W3 W" e+ W! O( p
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
& h' W' ]+ Y; |6 B( f/ e) F2 s' K, Ifrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
$ t* _( E+ R% e$ Z2 b/ @: \6 estudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.' H8 i K: ~ `0 S. f: U# C2 r
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 6 p" k# T K) h3 E, j9 N
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and - d* c9 h& f! k! Y. ?
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take0 V' D7 e6 \9 l) i% c% ~
* a& M" U3 v1 ~/ Hinitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for 9 m' T6 O4 V" i* c
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
; c: D# d5 B5 N2 [) F2 ]Thank you all
: m; w# g0 [/ \) x) |Ali |
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