New post-secondary students ending first week of classes shocked by costs
Posted September 8, 2023 3:52 pm.
Students were on the streets in downtown Edmonton celebrating the end of the first week of classes. But with costs going up year after year in the country, many first year students were shocked by how expensive university actually is.
“Yea it’s kind of expensive but we used to work a lot. We’re from a small town, so we worked a lot and saved so we have some money to spend,” said one student CityNews spoke with.
From books and tuition, to finding a place to rent, many post-secondary students this first week of class realized that they weren’t as prepared as they originally thought. That’s stressing some out.
“Uh definitely. Books were crazy expensive like I actually had to take a second to like think oh my god, this is like $700 for one semester of books. That’s crazy,” explained Jigarjeet Mannan, a first year student at MacEwan University.
But it isn’t students from Edmonton that are struggling the most. International students and those who moved from outside the City to Edmonton say the increase in costs have been a struggle to adjust to. Especially when they don’t have a job.
“The fees here are really expensive for international students and rent too and currently I don’t have a job. So it’s difficult,” said Zaanb Zchahal, a first year student at Norquest College.
International students pay almost three times the amount Canadians have to spend on tuition, on top of that they have to look for a place to live at a time of increasing rents and greater demand for housing.
“It’s very hard actually because the cheaper ones aren’t easily available. We had to search online a lot to get a place to rent,” said Dhrohar Sondhi, a first year student at MacEwan University.
Many first year students are looking for ways to reduce spending, which might include finding books online for free.
“Most of them aren’t really required and the ones that are you can find online for free so im not planning on buying anything yet,” explained Uzair Hussain, a first year student at MacEwan University.
