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[killer rin]

I posted this earlier in our Canada-Politigaf thread, but I figured I would post it as a separate thread for any Ontarians who don't follow us.

Ontario is investing in free online textbooks and educational resources for students to make college and university more affordable and accessible.

Deb Matthews, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Digital Government, made the announcement today at eCampusOntario, alongside partners in digital education. Ontario is partnering with eCampusOntario to develop and provide free and low-cost digital textbooks to students. The Ontario Open Textbooks Initiative will focus on Ontario-specific content in areas where the most significant impact and cost savings for students can be realized, including high-enrolment first-year courses, French language content, content for Indigenous studies, trades and technical skills content, and content for new Canadians.

New materials developed for Ontario will be added to the eCampusOntario online library of free educational resources which also launches today.

Ontario is also supporting students through the new Ontario Student Assistance Program, which will provide free average tuition to more than 210,000 students starting this fall. By next year, it is estimated that some 230,000 students receiving OSAP will have less debt. Making education more affordable for students is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy, and help people in their everyday lives.

Quick Facts

• Ontario is investing $1 million in the Ontario Open Textbooks Initiative.
• An open textbook is licensed under an open copyright licence, which means it can be made available online to be freely used by students, teachers and members of the public.
• A similar open textbook initiative in British Columbia has helped learners save over $4 million over the last four years.
• Surveys suggest that about two thirds of students have skipped buying or renting textbooks because of the cost.
• Currently, Ontario's Open Textbook Library has more than 180 open textbooks available on the eCampusOntario website.
• The Ontario Open Textbooks Initiative is contributing to the growing national and global library of open-source materials supporting lifelong learning.
• Founded in 2015, eCampusOntario is a consortium of all 45 Ontario publicly-assisted colleges and universities. It is a not-for-profit corporation funded by the Ontario government to be a Centre of Excellence for Online and Technology-Enabled Learning.

Press Release - Ontario Making College and University More Affordable with Free Online Textbooks - Province Helping Postsecondary Students Focus More on Learning, Less on Paying
Another News article - Mobile Syrup
Get your Textbooks: Here

In another move by our government to try and solve their ratings before the next election, Ontario has announced a free Online Textbook Program for students. I gotta say, being in this demographic its really nice being pandered to for a change, usually Politicians ignore us completely. Also from the looks of it, it doesn't seem restricted to Ontario students, so theoretically anyone (even people in the USA) could get access to these textbooks.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

Canada keeps winning - sniff THAT finger yanks

 

[thelatestmodel]

Yay us!

 

[Cake Boss]

Yoooo where was this 5 years ago.I would have came out of school driving Lambos.

Good for the new generation tho.

 

[Gilby]

Man, as soon as I move to BC, Ontario becomes the most liberal province (there's this, the restructured sex-ed starting at Grade 1, and the huge minimum wage increase). What the hell BC, step up your game!

 

[Impeccable]

Desperate Liberal party of Ontario is the best.

 

[Xe4]

Good. The price of textbooks is rediculius. You pay upwards of $200 for intro Chemistry, Physics and math stuff that hasn't been updated for years other than to rearrange stuff and change problem orders in order to constantly sell you the new version. Insane.

 

[TimeEffect]

I demand a retroactive refund!

 

[Akuun]

That's great news. Textbooks are a massive ripoff.

 

[KarmaCow]

Good. It's better in later years but the prices on first year course textbooks are such a racket and everyone knows it.

 

[Anth0ny]

I demand a retroactive refund!

for real lol

 

[Angelus Errare]

Meanwhile in the US, at the current rate textbooks in like 2025 will cost as much as a semester of school in 2003

 

[Professor Renegade]

Cool. would have been great to have this last year before I graduated, either way good to see the government taking some kind of action in lowering post-secondary expenses.

 

[lamaroo]

Can't wait for the hot takes from my conservative friends on Facebook.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Kind of wish that was around when I was at University. Oh well still a good step in the right direction to reduce the cost students have to pay for Post Secondary.

 

[Moppeh]

Nice try, Kathleen, but you ain't getting my vote.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I really really respect this. I'm still furious about the money I had to spend on college textbooks. It's a fucking racket.

 

[ILoveMcChickens]

Desperate Liberal party of Ontario is the best.

My hope is that they introduce some sort of OSAP loan forgiveness before the end of their term.

 

[dabig2]

I'm just going to say that I'm thankful I was able to find....alternative means of getting most of my textbooks than paying the ridiculous prices for them. Some classes I was out of luck, but the wide majority of them I was able to procure them easily.

So that said, I appreciate efforts like this and hope they expand.

 

[Represent.]

Ontario stays winning

 

[Zombie James]

Nice try, Kathleen, but you ain't getting my vote.

Well, the NDP's as inept as ever and the Cons have a leader with an anti-LGBTQ voting history, so...

 

[Entropia]

Wynne buying votes, etc. etc.





I'm glad this is a thing though. The cost of textbooks is egregious.

 

[Appleman]

Investing 1 million dollars? What is that, one textbook?