When you contribute to an RESP, the government matches your contributions by 20% – up to $7,200 over the lifetime of your plan – through the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG). Eligible beneficiaries can also receive additional support through the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) and other grants. Your savings grow tax-free in an RESP. This means that as long as the money is in the RESP, you won’t have to pay any taxes. When withdrawing your grants, contribution income and grant income, otherwise known as an educational assistance payment (EAP), the funds are taxed in the hands of the student, meaning they typically pay very little-to-no taxes on them, due to their low-income tax bracket.

• A valid social insurance number (SIN) for both you and each child you’re saving for*
• A Government-issued ID
• Personal information for you and your child(ren) 

Depending on your relationship with the student, you may either be eligible to open a family or individual registered education savings plan for them. See what the difference between the two types of plans are.   *A valid SIN is needed for both the subscribers and beneficiaries in order to register your RESP with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for tax exemption and to attract government grants.

Anyone who is a Canadian resident and has a valid SIN can open an RESP for an eligible beneficiary. Family RESPs may only be opened by a parent, grandparent or sibling of the beneficiary(ies). Individual RESPs can be opened by parents, grandparents, godparents, friends, or the individual themself.

The Embark Student Corporation is Canada’s expert RESP company. Managing RESPs for more than 600,000 students, education savings and planning is all we do. Each year, we help approximately 60,000 Canadians attend post-secondary school with the help of one of our RESPs. Since our inception, we’ve paid out approximately $8.1 billion to students as part of their education savings.