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When arrived to Edmonton to start my graduate studies on 2004, me and
0 W2 Z4 D$ p4 [! E" d5 t% Fmy friend rented a very nice, spacious and shiny 2-bedroom apartment % g: Q& Y& I& t- c- x$ U, v+ Q
in one of the Boardwalk's high rise buildings (Galbraith House) for
: v) G3 ~; `1 O' ]6 z4 a680 CAD(everything was included), believe it or not the same apartment
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, \& E$ L& Q; M" H7 Q7 ais more than 1300 CAD now.(I still have a copy of the contract and for7 X0 m8 i8 @9 K7 \& H
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the current price look at this link ) i! `) x5 f7 v$ j. H4 W7 ]2 h D
http://www.bwalk.com/Rental/infosheeta.asp?projectno=92). 100% ' W9 M( {4 M4 `4 k, d8 Q
increase in housing cost!; a' A/ j5 c$ D+ k, `
+ [! m" W7 S/ I9 T# q" bWhile I was paying 340CAD/month for more than a year, I抦 paying
. L1 t9 U/ G' g7 d T! f" g600CAD/month plus utilities right now, some thing around 700CAD/month.3 V ^3 ?" g/ Z4 E* v1 t+ i
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Other costs of leaving have also increased and the university ' l9 P) n" o0 o" G+ j
increases the tuition fee by few percent every year and international
' A2 P5 i, M5 |5 Idifferential fee was increased by almost 20% last year. Add to this,
. Z/ W! g8 J( Ithe fact that the university housing has no more space for newcomers
0 P7 H2 @& p4 P W: R( g! A& M4 n/ B( eand most of the newly admitted students who applied for housing were + @0 c* P- \0 l8 f
asked to look for a residence on open market.
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8 c6 [* A* _+ ^- X" VWhile the average cost of living for a typical graduate student has ; ^& ?* b' O) C' K' B
increased by something more than 70% percent we are getting paid 2 s2 T% v! C. h. B
exactly for the same amount of money that we were offered in our
0 d* O3 g8 _! H1 R @% eadmission letter (18000 CAD + 1500 CAD for international students : A; p6 I: c3 x* a, ^5 ~
=19500CAD. What I get is something around 1000CAD/month!!! after . z: @# W7 k1 t( U& R
tuition fee and taxes). To make the argument easy to understand just
s8 y3 M2 k1 v/ W6 i pimagine that a new student gets the same amount of money that I am
z, e7 C1 j8 n" n( |' tgetting now and I was getting 3 years ago but he or she (like all of 9 U! ~# L7 A4 C. E) O0 Y) D+ f1 u4 S6 }
us) has to pay twice as much as I was paying for housing when I was
; d$ |8 h5 g4 madmitted and has to incur at least 70% more in average living costs.9 B- u. ?1 X+ [- U, w# @
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Also have in mind that Alberta is a rich province and University of
s& U2 m; J$ q" r( CAlberta has a remarkable record in absorbing various money and grants m- h3 ?+ \. u4 f5 w( d
from different governmental and non governmental sources and graduate
0 p# X0 P$ h( m# F1 |) mstudents are the main pillars of research work at the university.5 T5 D6 P% p1 i- s8 D) W* ~
' Y; p2 R7 L% v) x% y& Q+ WMy objective in bringing all abovementioned points in your attention : T2 Z, Y4 {& Q0 R3 A/ ~
is to question the adequacy of financial aid for graduate and 2 N: [8 h4 x$ r* G- m: Y
especially international students. Isn抰 it time for the GSA to take
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1 k0 ~6 G( R4 `+ E7 ?9 I# qinitiative in raising the issue of increasing financial aid for ; D6 }9 [0 p3 z( R; ~% O
graduate students so that the can afford this increase in costs?. G& c1 }4 K$ M% p
( m- w; a' Y6 HPlease come with your experiences and ideas.
4 V7 b7 A( h/ C( p/ |$ dThank you all
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