Antony’s Life Blog

(Picture is from stock.xchng.)

I have been asked several times about tuition fee at Indonesian universities. It’s not an easy answer. When I pursued my bachelor degree at the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), I paid ~$20 / semester for my tuition fee. Yes, it was 20 bucks (not 20 thousands).

Well, it’s true that I studied at the university about 15 years ago. However, I believe the current tuition fee is still below $250 / semester (anyone from UGM to confirm?)

Why is it so cheap? Firstly, UGM is a public university. Private universities usually charge much higher tuition fees. Secondly, Yogyakarta, the city where UGM is located, is an inexpensive city to live.

Just to give you an overview, here is a list of my spending when I was living in Yogyakarta (again, it was 15 years ago):

• Room rental: $10 / month
• Food: $20 / month
• Transportation: $5 / month
• Entertainment: $5 / month
• Miscellaneous: $10 / month

Of course, the costs are 3-4 times more expensive now; but still they are quite cheap. Just for comparison, I can easily spend $20 for a dinner in Vancouver.

What is the relation between "the richest man in the world" and "the inventor of blue energy"? Both of them are from Indonesia. No… no… I’m just kidding. I’ll come back to this topic later.

Let’s start with another story first. Every day, each time I read news about my home country, Indonesia, I feel sad. The country is facing a lot of problems, politically and economically. The government has recently raised the fuel price, which makes many people unhappy.

The story continues…. Two "crazy" Indonesians have tried to make fun of the problems in the country.

The first person is Achmad Zaini. He claimed to have ~2,000 billion USD, which should be enough to develop the country for the next 36 years. If his claim were true, he is 30 times richer than Warren Buffett (the current richest man the world according to Forbes).

The second person is Joko Suprapto. He claimed to have technology that turns sea water into fuel. Wow… amazing, isn’t it? Even Indonesian president, SBY, has visited him and gave full support to his research. Unfortunately, it is just too good to be true.

Oh boy…. what’s next?

Recently, there was someone left a comment on my old posting, Three Reasons Why I don’t Like Living in Vancouver. He said that it’s better for me to leave the city. It doesn’t need people like me. In a way, the comment is correct. If I don’t like the city, why am I living here in the first place? The reason why I live in Vancouver was because I got a job in a big company back in 2005. That’s why, I decided to relocate from Singapore to Vancouver, Canada.

After living here for about 2 years; I realized that I hardly survive here (as I mentioned in my previous posting). The housing price is not affordable. There was a statement from RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) recently about housing’s affordability in Metro Vancouver:

RBC released its latest housing affordability index the day after a major report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities warned that the unaffordability of housing is becoming an economic issue for Canadian cities, and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said too many families here are having to choose between buying food or making the mortgage.

This one is more even interesting:

By the bank’s measure, it would take 75 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s median income of $60,000 to afford an average two-storey home, which carried a $619,892 price tag.

Is it only me who feels very hard living in Vancouver? I copied some comments from Vancouver Sun readers below.

Housing costs have more than doubled in the past 7 years, with no end in sight. At this rate, it’s almost impossible for a young couple to afford a detached single family home and have any sort of life. (KarenL)

YVR is out of reach for people making less than $100K per year. Even for a family with $150K per year income it’s almost impossible to buy a house… (POLLO)

I’m a new physician, netted about 300k last year and still, I’m not prepared to buy a home in Vancouver. It is all the greedy investors who snatch up all the homes that drive up the prices. (JIM)

Why didn’t I leave Vancouver then? There was an unfortunate that I had 2 years contract with my company. If I leave the company before 2 years; then I had to pay some amount of money.

What’s my next plan after 2 years? I have a plan in my mind already; but couldn’t disclose it now. I need to prepare everything first; because I don’t want to make the wrong decision.