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Institutions in the Canadian province of British Columbia have since September 2017 offered a government-funded tuition-free certificate in adult basic education. Last week, they sweetened the pot: students enrolling in that program can now access all of their textbook materials for free, courtesy of the existing program at BCcampus, an organization that facilitates the province's technology initiatives.
The province's government is providing $250,000 to create or adapt textbooks at all four levels of the adult graduation diploma -- including math, English, science, social science, computer studies and education and career planning.
According to the province's Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, 86,000 students have saved more than $9 million since the open-textbook program was launched in 2012. The amount is calculated by multiplying the number of students in a course section by the price of the displaced textbook, according to a spokesperson for the ministry.
