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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
5 K7 V3 u3 r% d7 _8 _5 W" l% H% kmy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment
; D6 I7 d7 A- Kin one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for 1 |, X# _. L1 P. @) @" J
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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" F* i7 A' F" R# Ais more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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$ `% ~- k* [9 ?. f% C; M5 p: Rthe current price look at this link ) [- `# H( T' x2 a5 ]5 m' a
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% , _ a5 O& b! B
increase in housing cost!3 T+ Q8 Y1 U- f$ W/ ^+ P1 U$ e; M
0 u, R# }5 _2 E8 F$ G6 }While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying , E% a: A2 O6 H9 \4 Q$ A
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
/ b, {8 z( W# s: x( m, x. Q2 Mincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
* G' o, P- S0 o. S R3 {! _0 j; d5 Hdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
0 P7 ~+ c) U( z( [3 H1 ythe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
Z6 @5 S2 c8 T9 B- d5 q7 ~/ }and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were # r! B" p) R ?! I, }
asked to look for a residence on open market. M7 R5 M" V; P' y1 m) U' a& c( f
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While the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
# a; G) ? i0 O6 sincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid 9 X' K9 X" K* ]
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
; z, f6 t* ~+ H* {1 p$ s5 wadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students 5 F2 U, `! \, z/ g3 Y
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
: D+ x5 Y8 v' i. w% p, ~ ~tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just " t' s. c7 S/ u. j
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am 9 G0 |) ?& P8 U3 E2 t7 K6 I
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
3 D7 d- w' y& A! g0 R- fus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
; u; J) Z7 L8 F3 jadmitted 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
& o) b+ _* c, s$ \7 WAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants ; V8 d1 Z7 c3 C& B( o9 i
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate ( F/ {1 d; E# N) D
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.3 V, n( Y4 m5 s6 q/ C1 R0 G
# [& s9 K7 B, k* } s7 lMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 2 [' ]2 b$ ~" y7 z2 O5 G1 I" G
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
3 h( D6 V% F) S. oespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take( R3 G! r* {2 o( b
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initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
7 N2 g* d3 ]' c8 ggraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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: H& P4 F8 {* s I& F$ C0 gPlease come with your experiences and ideas.
! }" U! ?4 o% k. ?) z" a9 r6 C) r( G8 ?Thank you all
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