I started studying at UNISA in the mid-90s. It was a distance learning university, with fees literally 1/10th that of a in-person university. They had more current students than all the rest of the SA universities combined.

Roughly half the textbooks required were published by UNISA press, with authors being the lecturers themselves. With one exception (Delphi programming), all the books published by UNISA press were free with the course.

It's astounding that +3 decades later, it is still not profitable for any other university to do this!