Arbetov.ca RESP - Money for Education

Victoria – Nominations are now open for the second annual Premier’s Awards for Teaching Excellence, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today. “These awards help to recognize and celebrate the commitment and innovation B.C. teachers bring to the classroom,” said Premier Campbell. “This is an opportunity for government to formally showcase some of the incredible work that teachers do to help students achieve their best every day.”

The Human Resources and Skills Development Canada will pay a 20% Canada Education Savings Grant on the first $2,000 of annual contributions made to all eligible RESPs for a qualifying beneficiary for 1998 and later years. Beneficiaries qualify for a grant on the contributions made on their behalf before the end of the calendar year in which they turn 17 years of age. However, special conditions must be met by the end of the calendar year in which the beneficiary turns 15. All CESGs are paid to the trustee of the RESP. The grants and accumulated earnings will be part of the educational assistance payments paid out of the plan to the beneficiary. The maximum CESG amount that a beneficiary can receive is $7,200.

According to the information, published on Advisor.ca , public hearings and pre-budget consultations are now being held in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. One of the contributors who responded to the Committee’s call for submissions in July is IFIC. Earlier this year the recommendations by industry members caused the government eliminating foreign content restrictions on registered savings plans.

Buying insurance or investment products is much different than purchasing something like, say, shoes. With shoes, the stakes are quite low, and you know immediately if you’ve made a poor decision. The worst case scenario is that you buy an ugly pair of ill-fitting shoes which you can then return the next day.

People are often surprised to discover how dramatically the cost of a post-secondary education has increased over the past decade. We’ve all heard how governments have scaled back spending on post-secondary education in an era of fiscal prudence. What is not always clear, however, is how these cutbacks will affect both students and parents in the future and what can be done about it today.

A recent Statistics Canada survey showed that nearly 90% of Canadians want their children to attend university or college. Unfortunately, the same survey showed that only 40% of parents have actually started setting money aside for post-secondary education. Due to rising tuition fees, you may need to set aside more money than you had counted on.