A Third of Ontario Students Are Going to School Tuition-Free This Year

Thanks to a new provincial aid program, about a third of full-time students in Ontario are going to college or university for free this school year. That means about 210,000 students are studying for free in Canada's most populous province.

Ontario is known for having the highest tuition rates in Canada. Because of the new and improved program, applications for student aid in the province are up 10 percent—about 50,000 applicants—from the previous year.

"This is far greater than we expected," Deb Matthews, minister of advanced education and skills development, told the Toronto Star. "We are absolutely thrilled to have 50,000 more applicants this year than last year at this time. We are very, very pleased with the increase."

Under the current provincial aid program, "students from families with a combined income up to $175,000 will benefit from more generous grants and loans to assist with college and university expenses," according to the province of Ontario.

Additions to the program also mean that mature students are now eligible for provincial student aid and that you don't have to pay back your loans until you're making at least $35,000 a year.

Excuse me while we dry cry about having gone to university just a few years too early. Anyway, gotta get back to work, have a $220 student loan payment to make this month.