One of the most important aspects of the quality of a graduate student's life is thier living arrangements. The majority of graduate students are not familar with the Montreal housing market and so rely on the university to provide resonable housing at an affordable price.
This was not provided to me at 3464 Rue Hutchison which is the primary housing for graduate students at McGill. I thought that I could not go wrong by chosing student graduate housing at McGill. I was dead WRONG.
The building at 3464 Rue Hutchison is in shambles. The elevator is seriously dangerous, there is MOLD in the walls becuase the grouting was not done properly. There is paint peeling off the walls everywhere. They only provided me with a bar fridge and a kitchen so small it was almost impossible to cook. A mattress that was only foam and now I have a problems with my back. My balcony is not attached properly to the wall (it requested this
fixed two times and nothing done about it). We had to live without phone or internet for over a month. We also had to endure not having a buzzer for 3 months. Not even an apology from the housing office. I could list much much more like - there not being a smoke detector in the room and my oven caught on fire- but I will not due to space concerns.
With all these problems the housing office decides to charge a price way above market. This is not fair becuase most graduate students are uninformed about the housing market here and are under the impression that housing provided from McGill (which has a good reputation for integrity) would provide decent housing.
Whether they are intentionlly taking advantage of incoming graduates or not, I am not sure, but it certainly looks that way.
Main point: The living standards at 3464 Rue Hutchison are very very poor and the housing department charges above market rents because they are taking advantage of foriegn students who trust the university to provide them with proper housing.
Jean
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
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