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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and - P0 W' f& T4 e _
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment % M5 I9 j6 d5 n3 \9 ~
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
- E: l; Y7 i9 {: K% X# L3 @680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
$ [9 ]$ d5 u0 l0 K4 |3 r# M
6 n ]3 c; b5 ^4 u- M/ y {& y- uis more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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/ d7 U* _& Z) T1 x; ~4 w) ~the current price look at this link : \$ d3 D( _" j2 s0 [2 j
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% % V- A# G. l# z& b4 P6 o% L$ y
increase in housing cost!$ ?- T8 R( G0 }
) g4 k2 @( t: M6 [, ^! S0 MWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying 5 ` n) C4 z! f3 b) {
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.: u3 F3 ?6 F' k6 p5 n- P7 W8 J
; J9 e) V, B9 O1 R+ YOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university : C! N, v; t+ b2 q, V
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
3 a4 |2 W; v9 I: ^+ Sdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
7 ?! L# E; q2 Y" `' g$ Q9 dthe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers ' @$ l# ^3 l: u0 N$ v# N. E+ a. N1 n- y
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were * h9 Y% f2 Y/ _% e% Y
asked to look for a residence on open market.
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* G3 h8 ]; p1 N: a" Q- N$ b" @, MWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
}. z1 n# d1 f# lincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
; Q/ W6 l$ i' m' m7 A; I( Aexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
) b1 l Q/ u6 Q3 I( V* sadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students 8 S# o3 e m' x& q3 w4 k, X2 G
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
% _) \1 X# m q* [6 O2 h9 m/ ^+ [tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
1 x* |' J$ i. _6 @( Timagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am v/ N; W4 a( Q8 v3 p2 x4 ~
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of $ O, {* \$ R) T7 r; z
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was 5 b# s j0 m1 ~/ s- ]
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.. n* a6 T" Y+ [$ x3 X7 w
. C& \9 S+ m- qAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of : n+ w! e1 v6 H! e
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
, U/ M9 ]3 y0 w4 ffrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 8 ^: `. d; h1 w# A: F
students are the main pillars of research work at the university. J# s( i: I; w: I/ i
1 T/ A6 g5 l6 u" ]- Y- d$ v8 cMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
- U$ _3 }, R4 r9 S# Nis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and ( C3 B5 x4 m7 e. e1 `; w. \! Y0 i6 A; s
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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& B. M5 }6 r' ]# |$ }/ K5 ninitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
! `* X1 ], w: y2 [3 Ugraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?. g0 `9 F7 E' y8 q b0 q3 `0 J
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
3 Y7 f( b5 ]8 m! |Thank you all
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