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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and 4 w g& S9 B5 X/ i5 ]7 a- E# W
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment 7 F2 O8 i% m1 c
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
6 C$ O9 S, s, Z* \9 y9 Y680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment/ ?: e4 \/ k: T" S
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is more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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the current price look at this link ! r h3 E! \' w0 T0 {' W
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% - X8 C/ R* o' N" X
increase in housing cost!2 z" A2 ^$ i4 l C# n/ i, _7 y
4 \; N7 f9 D2 f/ I6 F8 m) s+ u/ g+ VWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
* L9 r! e& ~) Z9 g/ N/ x! h- r" H. r600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.0 r# o4 v2 i9 X3 L0 [1 h
+ ]2 @8 w0 H$ p1 w0 }
Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university " d8 Y" v' H: F- b
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
8 w! |, S/ ^( J2 {7 Hdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
6 l' V7 p. G1 w. fthe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
, `. P- f% }1 U& g) _ Xand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
0 y: h; \& I- |" n9 \8 A: W4 _asked to look for a residence on open market.1 e. n# o* R. w% l
( z k/ [( m4 A9 }5 rWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has
! y/ e, @) H4 u& N% _; ^- Fincreased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid 5 _. A* U5 r+ G, w% t
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
4 [* i; B; Y6 P& Y: Vadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students : [ V0 q7 |$ x$ j# O
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after
* n3 L6 P& c$ g8 w" h; O- @* atuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
1 G+ \0 J2 t. ^2 Y" mimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am % g9 X9 {: \& @9 D) S) M
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
" x/ L) g5 U4 p' P8 zus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
% Y* B, h7 ?( `& Fadmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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! S' f0 W; [' dAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
$ v$ F3 n4 O7 V8 o% P: fAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
, e$ x4 s$ r/ u& }; |from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate 5 G: M# K x, F4 p( y2 a
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.$ @0 V, y$ ~$ `- F; C
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention
2 C* Q( `) n. Dis to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and * f5 o+ Y. w! \1 _' u! k) d: z
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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8 @5 L0 ]. P' W* s4 [ x5 binitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
: x" l$ M, j# \' I9 z) c6 mgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?8 [# Z3 a1 }: ^2 U% \% O" }+ d% d
+ f8 O. q4 j6 Y+ v, n0 `3 \
Please come with your experiences and ideas.
+ w* h) Z7 b. A) T1 wThank you all) p- u& {# j8 M
Ali |
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