Post-secondary students from lower income houses will soon be paying little to nothing to attend universities and colleges in Ontario.

On Thursday, the Ontario government introduced an Ontario Student Grant to offset the financial burden of university and college students. The province will provide grants large enough to cover the entire tuition of college students whose annual family income is less than $50,000.

University students will also be provided with an increase in financial aid, although they aren’t guaranteed to have the entirety of their tuition paid for. 

The change was unveiled along with the new Ontario provincial budget as an initiative to get more low-income students to enter post-secondary education. Further details concerning the grant program will be released in the coming months. 

The change, projected for 2017, will reportedly allow post-secondary students to borrow up to $2,500 more each year.

The projections made by the Ontario government are based on whether the federal government delivers on their promises of student aid. The federal government has promised to remove tax credits on education-related goods and services in favour of funding the Canada Student Loan Program.

The Journal will be reporting on the new budget and its effects on students in greater depth.