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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
- ~8 y2 J& A2 |9 {my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment : j) g" g5 c" w& Z5 A
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
3 d$ {& r' h3 c) `$ k, C: k! U680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment$ n! _7 K2 A* x: [' [/ y- [
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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% ]; N5 J6 l8 o" `- P4 Mthe current price look at this link 4 q0 e. W. [5 R* C
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% 5 c+ i9 x; r/ Z* Z* T- W. g/ C
increase in housing cost!6 B4 q! c, i: z6 t
/ L0 @+ B: y$ P9 V, [2 MWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying . F- I7 D2 O3 E; U. h+ c
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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d% D6 a: g* M; s' h$ MOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university 7 C5 i* f6 r, Y i1 N: g5 w
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
" C2 L$ {( O- E2 ldifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, 7 q' E, r- U+ A" U2 ]
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers / ~4 h2 j- ?# b9 p/ C1 s- G
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were 6 x& E" j" j) ?0 V9 y
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
8 t( ^! Z, h( K4 kincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid : U/ b( D' I. Z1 E0 W. z% U
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
5 `$ d8 e: t$ U/ z+ nadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
$ S8 E" ^8 ~8 a& j8 K3 `=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after # h$ W4 L$ d: O- ^
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just 4 u/ x2 H) H' q
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am # h& j$ n2 c/ ?0 F
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
4 `9 Y# _3 y, B1 o; N* R8 A' P! F8 nus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was + B* g7 @7 @+ d6 E, z: R& V
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
- t* D/ H4 d5 g0 H2 g: [2 X1 iAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants % m1 m+ T9 Q r) e2 C+ h
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 7 b; i1 Z' o/ [) W9 n
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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5 ~9 V) f6 x L* P3 {/ SMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention ( K& c7 f8 m/ Z7 n( p+ |8 l
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
! o+ x* C5 W9 u- y" Eespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take( Y: h ]8 c2 A- `4 }
4 U7 L) w* ^9 R7 f, m! _initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
5 \6 z$ s; T' ~, F: O3 o+ Vgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.$ V0 Y0 D( Y$ x' Q# T; l. E
Thank you all
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