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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
7 P. R4 d' W1 b" S% i4 O5 Qmy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment ) L# t1 G/ g7 a" E) R
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for 3 a5 F% K5 R. e- }
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for+ U' Y7 o, m G9 {9 A
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the current price look at this link
3 F; N1 E5 v8 S, `& C) B3 Bhttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% : N" V% p) P' t/ F" F% g7 m
increase in housing cost!
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying 1 Z& \6 I4 j1 ~$ t, r: W
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
& C+ U; @; p& H# O3 N p8 Kincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
5 h+ C# e6 z( I0 Y0 Fdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, ! e3 G) M7 B& Q# n* |
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers # {) H! d3 E* w% {3 ]# p
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were ) u G# U6 [5 D, f
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 F( E7 W! u5 w$ Cincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid q4 ~' N- a* [) y6 k5 \3 I
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
! {: X( \6 s2 c( jadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
. C# |- o, b6 ^! A3 Y=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after 1 k' e4 Z* [1 E3 Q6 E
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
0 L* Q* A7 S# W9 u# {: ~4 _" Ximagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am
8 w X% j; {4 f' M, |getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
0 r5 g' `# _& \# }0 |% Cus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
1 T5 K) K& g) D6 radmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs./ I% V# N" S. V: ~+ ]
+ T9 w5 W! Y$ ^/ E4 cAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
) ]* @: C1 s8 M @2 z0 D9 ^Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants " Q" g! n1 Q; i8 ~
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
2 z) U+ ^- k6 hstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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! F& n) O- @9 ~0 uMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
+ q; o7 U$ A @+ H/ k( Zis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
; l/ O% q% k6 Z$ w9 Hespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take7 \' v$ S% o2 U' a; D2 X
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
/ u/ \ K8 R6 a. D' b2 U" tgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?& F0 t$ ]0 ~- I. E& c5 O
* }( z+ W% h3 W, ]9 lPlease come with your experiences and ideas.
3 q l& b& n' t0 i W0 V q' WThank you all
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