Costs of Education Materials

The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES) has issued a directive for all publicly assisted colleges to ensure students and their families can find information on educational costs with ease; and improve consistency across the sector in publishing educational costs and leverage best practices.
Any amendments to the MCURES Directive will be updated on this webpage.

Sharing Information on Costs of Education Materials

In response to the Directive, instructors of current courses will receive a message via Quercus, inviting them to complete a form sharing the following information about each course they will teach this semester:  

  • Individual costing for all textbooks or other learning materials (mandatory and optional).  
  • Whether there are any restrictions that would prevent a student from using a second-hand copy of the textbook or other learning material. 

NOTE: Instructors must fill in the survey, even if there are no costs associated with the learning materials for their courses.

Deadline to Submit Form

Instructors teaching Fall (F) and Fall-Winter (Y) courses will receive a message via Quercus asking them to submit the form by the first week of classes in September. Responses will be shared with students via a link from Quercus.

Strategies to Support Students

U of T’s Syllabus Service is supported by U of T’s Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office. This service assists faculty and staff at the University of Toronto in making course readings available to students at no costs while respecting Canadian copyright law and existing U of T licensing agreements.

The MCURES suggests the following additional strategies to help manage the cost of educational materials for students: 

  • Make students aware of how to find information on ancillary fees and the cost of textbooks and other learning materials. 
  • No other educational material costs should be added to a course after the distribution of the information on course-related educational costs in the first week of classes. 
  • Along with textbook costs, a syllabus or alternative method of communication should include information about textbook features (for example, personalized online study tools). 
  • Faculty should be encouraged to use Open Educational Resources (OERs) to help make postsecondary education more affordable for students. OER resources are available through eCampusOntario. 
Review the FAQs for Instructors

If you have any questions after reviewing the FAQs, please contact vp.iue@utoronto.ca.