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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and 3 B& Z0 o' L. }, y9 N. W
my friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment 6 U, A! u( F0 c
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for 4 t& @: k' n: K3 y* L/ Y
680 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/ s! h8 N: J7 f4 ?7 D
7 Z+ t$ r( a, l5 j ?the current price look at this link
% d+ Q9 _9 Q1 P5 Khttp://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
0 D4 q1 U2 O; B# `! H3 rincrease in housing cost!+ |8 d* A8 q7 M& [' S
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While I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
- u" ^7 H) V& b7 W# B. M/ Q5 J600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.
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) y4 N+ \ ]3 T6 p% NOther costs of leaving have also increased and the university
R( a# m- c1 b& q% oincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international 3 O5 ?- n5 g6 K5 S. H0 \
differential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, ' I1 Q D1 r! {/ {
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers 3 V* ]& k; u4 P
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were
! C+ V& n t9 fasked to look for a residence on open market.
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. m7 A v7 o0 V I, BWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has , S1 r" `0 k: C! m% M$ A" P$ E
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid 0 [" U$ N& R: s7 |9 M
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
# a" J. L% M4 c. @* H) E% qadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
* f0 ~% B( {7 |, Y9 i=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after / u( I V' M9 ~4 m: T5 D/ Y
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just - H! F. B# N) k; u$ H
imagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am 5 Z1 {/ J: [5 g) r @+ H
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of : Z% j( V1 v* G9 n) a0 N4 K
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
( d8 E" C# R! l/ H- w2 Q# W: Eadmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.: I8 ~( [4 s& R! e9 b1 k6 r
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of , N& s# v$ s# ^. t' {# F
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
& v$ U, h9 [$ p' _ [from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate * G2 K* U! Y; E9 | [0 ~
students are the main pillars of research work at the university.) a+ |6 D/ m) }, u* Z
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My objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention $ y5 V, M/ j$ c, ?$ ]: }! ~2 ^8 q1 \
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and ( R3 J0 _/ s, N/ z% S; d
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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3 z' f4 s" i" `2 v+ ~initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
8 G. L3 d7 r3 c" q. r6 F+ Ggraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
, F% I4 x+ O7 i* d) C3 y2 [3 N- C* ^9 zThank you all
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