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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and " V4 }- |+ H4 S
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment 4 K2 x4 W' @ @3 K0 _+ q/ b
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
- P2 |/ F- u {2 H680 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" _/ I' B" A. `# M6 Y
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the current price look at this link 1 e' s6 ]: }# F, L U8 z9 o
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
% U1 U3 }+ ^0 g# kincrease in housing cost!6 g/ x) u" c: u9 q7 Q( n$ K1 [
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
: d" I6 W$ T ^) j7 X3 E7 `600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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# }- u/ k. T2 O' x' POther costs of leaving have also increased and the university
0 b i! J1 z& } m0 q1 Oincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international ( t& ^- N6 p* c/ @: o2 d. f
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, " c7 }* }" [* E' u: o* ]+ K5 [" M
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers ; ~' l( _' m o8 z
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
2 I' I8 ]5 w( `% r* @0 Sasked to look for a residence on open market.
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& [! ^$ n1 E8 L' _0 A7 BWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has ^% J" o, I! `" L$ e
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
3 K7 c" L, g4 H5 X* A4 H7 u+ zexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
( S1 D6 @7 f( ^; w) Y8 N; yadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
/ M% A2 i$ e% V$ ^) S=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
f" }) \! G) R( vtuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
6 a1 C" {! B: `5 F3 C; fimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am
. k" r2 _- X" n" p( dgetting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of ' N. U5 W. o. k& F. Z1 ^
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was ' Q! M% ^/ e! c2 u
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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( s* j: E/ _ @Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of ; u$ Z; d' ^+ F( h) g- J) y: W
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
6 A! _2 f% E2 s! M0 ^from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
) b. \5 k! _2 _* dstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.& @% p4 Y& Q) E: ^. v/ S+ k9 j/ y
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention : Y5 v5 T* o- A% z
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and # F% Z! W- X: t3 D
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take, r, k0 g) M o& h( f6 c
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
S# U! r# s* I0 ?: e7 lgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?. C% q# @" ~' g2 F* ?! B
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
) w. `/ R7 M1 ^" _" l, |% NThank you all/ j9 ~7 }# l/ |; A3 T$ {
Ali |
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