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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
. D$ q! s% h; j m# }; ^/ B8 nmy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment : l! {) n5 A1 c& p: R, P
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for 8 A5 q+ f) @5 h; x) V
680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment( ]3 w; ^' v6 o6 r
3 X3 g* ^) ^" T* wis more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for
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' V) S K. {' N/ u {the current price look at this link ( ?5 d' e5 l, l
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100%
# a% \: a8 w8 B, m; r9 [4 o. Xincrease in housing cost!
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1 a. {0 S o5 J9 F# U f% G8 P+ pWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying 3 |4 y$ E v( y) w. W. O! b& j
600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month./ I5 N! m7 a$ s) m
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Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university
2 v% ~/ t1 y2 S1 Aincreases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
' r/ A# j" K& ~8 ^! S hdifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this, ) C7 L4 e1 B# C' g- }
the fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers / ^3 F& q3 z% Z, }
and most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were ) B' z7 |- ?8 y6 q8 s
asked to look for a residence on open market.
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* M; k6 l- T$ f- o7 vWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has + m" z- V' v: c% B
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid
}5 U$ e y+ [+ P t3 @$ Wexactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
! r6 |- e& g; b# tadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students
. S! v' k7 k' G0 k$ _5 |=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after ) G9 W# e& z4 x+ S0 D
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
* H3 U2 `7 S5 G: uimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am ) O. G4 n. z; A$ q4 e5 K
getting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of
6 y5 U& n' k8 Y) lus) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was 1 L: q1 J0 t! I- q h0 G" D* I
admitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.
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) C \- _ n9 ]! Q9 [0 M' jAlso have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of - a4 b$ k6 ~( ^" z/ x5 ?" O5 S: \/ B
Alberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants
! {! E4 M, B1 Xfrom different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
0 W, H L6 }' U; p$ e' N1 V8 hstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.
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) \" I" [' Z6 C5 tMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention 2 Q' v! H* x5 ]( P5 o5 |
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and
4 N5 `, s$ B9 a7 d. z5 lespecially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take+ V) k- C7 y9 A" a7 A2 q
) I; W$ f1 |+ J% [initiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for
" \$ i# U1 y0 u! @: u7 D6 X9 o( fgraduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?3 H* o, {. i' J( T2 G7 K
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Please come with your experiences and ideas.
" d" l) c/ ~$ M- \* xThank you all
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