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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and T/ K& F7 Y& e* Z, |
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
! ]7 J6 ^9 W+ o4 O& Xin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
1 V# y/ K4 Q$ U6 ^680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment+ c3 o; j: j+ [: {/ x6 A( m( [
2 m$ {9 c. z5 Z4 P: C* ~4 `0 j" i
is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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/ y1 F. [/ t; m1 gthe current price look at this link - n n& \9 w0 [' c+ o
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
7 m5 j$ q$ L/ |+ i- O% W) C/ `increase in housing cost!6 E+ i5 k, ^2 Z' b* {
- U+ w+ o7 V ?* S3 s6 V2 W5 a) Q# zWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying ; u) ^) I7 V% G; r, Y
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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) k! _' N: F# Z; qOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university
: E. V5 k/ r8 Y+ [# r6 rincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
! p0 ?' C m. ?. O2 q, M, bdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, 6 K0 Q; j, R* H! U* Z3 E
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers 5 i6 `& o q7 W3 b% {' l8 S
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were $ Y$ b: T" v8 i4 S+ \
asked to look for a residence on open market.- E. u* ^! N' E
1 X2 v- @9 H" R7 c4 q' H, n8 f% O) n# L( TWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
4 T! W5 l! F0 K: j- J. z) I3 Iincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid . C' }; b2 i8 a/ `& {8 ^3 c. Z
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
) b4 b! z$ b, d8 Y" c5 ?admission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
7 F; d9 Y* A, T/ D) M) P=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
1 t2 s: N& k9 v, [5 X, p$ `, x7 V" ctuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
9 T) f1 \0 K; eimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am ! v) n; u" @) g
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of 2 z& D+ N' N- y) o7 L; k
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was , @ |8 Y, [$ @. M
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.. t, ^) ?& M1 R
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of ! ]( Y4 k+ q. i$ J1 E
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants & g7 e) z% w$ e9 B5 {
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate * t3 j2 t9 H. [" Y4 w1 ~
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.. J2 h3 Z2 U( L
4 y) h m/ W1 _9 B: RMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
# h, z# S( g4 gis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
2 J" U! f4 [, {9 v/ e6 p% O6 T4 wespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
3 V9 }0 Q3 x9 ]% o- y; f6 ? 4 h& x( Z/ `/ w! D3 ?2 Q3 b) C
initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for # @, j7 \$ c" d/ d5 \
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.: `+ f$ O' H/ ]- g" d- [; ^' S7 h
Thank you all3 \7 L9 u: J; a( a/ U
Ali |
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