RESP Grants Canada 2026: CESG, Learning Bond and BCTESG

RESP Grants at a Glance: How Much Each One Pays

Four government payments can go into a child's RESP, and a low-income child in B.C. can collect up to $10,400 from three of them ($7,200 CESG, $2,000 CLB and $1,200 BCTESG). In Quebec the matching figure is $12,800 ($7,200, $2,000 and the $3,600 QESI).

Sources: Canada.ca "How much money benefits could add to the RESP" (modified August 10, 2026), Government of B.C. BCTESG page, and Revenu Québec's QESI pages (Internet Archive copies). CESG income lines are 2026 adjusted family net income.

Here's what the CESG means in dollars. A family that puts in $2,500 a year gets $500 in grant, and it takes $36,000 of contributions at the basic 20% rate to reach the $7,200 limit. A lower-income family putting in $500 a year gets $200 (the basic $100 plus the additional $100), which is a 40% top-up. The CLB then adds its own money on top, whether or not the family contributes.

There's no annual limit on RESP contributions, but the lifetime contribution limit is $50,000 per beneficiary across all RESPs. Over-contributions are taxed at 1% a month until they're withdrawn, according to Canada.ca's managing-your-plan page.

Income Limits for the Additional CESG and the Canada Learning Bond

A family with 1 to 3 children qualifies for the Canada Learning Bond with adjusted family income of $58,523 or less for the benefit year July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, according to Canada.ca. The same $58,523 line decides whether a child gets the higher 20% Additional CESG in 2026.

Canada.ca estimating amounts page (2026 to 2027) and the 2025 Annual Statistical Review, Table 2 (2025 to 2026).

"Adjusted family income" is the primary caregiver's and their spouse's or partner's line 23600 income, minus any Universal Child Care Benefit and RDSP income received. Two practical points follow. First, the caregiver has to file a tax return for every year they want the bond, and must be eligible for the Canada Child Benefit. Second, eligibility is checked year by year, so a child can qualify one year and not the next.

The Learning Bond is retroactive. It builds up for every eligible year until December 31 of the year the child turns 15, the caregiver can request it until the day before the child turns 18, and from 18 the young person can claim it themselves until the day before they turn 21. Children in care for whom a Children's Special Allowance is paid qualify too.

Grantsights Analysis of the 2025 CESP Statistical Review

The Government of Canada paid $1.2 billion in CESG to 3,190,680 children in 2025 and $186.7 million in Canada Learning Bond payments to 729,200 children, according to the 2025 Annual Statistical Review. Yet only 54.0% of children aged 0 to 17 had ever received a CESG payment, and only 43.9% of children ever eligible for the Learning Bond had received it.

2025 Annual Statistical Review, Tables 3a to 3c, 10 and 23. The first-time CLB rate uses benefit years (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25).

Take-up varies a lot by province. Quebec has the highest CESG take-up at 61.4% and B.C. is next at 57.8%; Manitoba is lowest among the provinces at 40.6%, and Nunavut is at 5.4%. A case in point for the Learning Bond is Nunavut, where only 409 of the 14,010 children ever eligible had received it by the end of 2025.

Grantsights analysis of the 2025 Annual Statistical Review, Tables 9, 13 and 21. "Never received" is eligible children aged 0 to 20 minus children who have received the CLB.

Four findings matter for families:

• Most of the missed money is low-income money. More than 3 million children who were eligible for the Learning Bond at some point had never received it by the end of 2025. Among eligible young adults born before 2008, 521,506 still hadn't claimed it, and only 16,453 adults received it during 2025.
• Lower-income families get the extra grant but contribute less. In 2025, 515,342 children received the 20% Additional CESG and 691,050 the 10% rate, while 1,984,288 got the basic grant only. Average contributions were $1,408, $1,612 and $2,134 respectively (in 2025 dollars).
• Many families leave part of the $500 on the table. In 2025, 20.8% of beneficiaries received contributions of $500 or less, and only 21.4% received more than $2,500.
• The money does get used. In 2025, 622,961 students withdrew an average of $11,904 from their RESPs, and 55.9% of them came from low- or middle-income families by the review's measure (they had received the Additional CESG or the CLB), up from 20.6% in 2016.

What Canada.ca Doesn't Tell You About RESP Grants

Canada.ca explains each benefit on its own, so the traps sit between the pages. These are the common mistakes and red flags to check before you open a plan.

1. Not every promoter offers every grant. Canada.ca tells you to ask before opening an RESP whether the promoter offers the CLB and the Additional CESG. The B.C. government says that if your existing provider doesn't offer the BCTESG, you can open a second RESP at one that does. The statistical review shows banks received 57.0% of CLB payments in 2025 but only 33.6% of CESG.

2. Two RESPs for one child can split or lose the grant. The CESG is paid into the plan that gets the earliest contribution in the year. If a parent and a grandparent each contribute $2,500 through different promoters, only the first plan gets the grant. Contributions made on the same date split the grant in half. The $50,000 lifetime limit covers every plan combined.

3. Group plans can cost you money if you leave early. Group (pooled) plans are sold by scholarship plan dealers, and the Ontario Securities Commission's GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca says you can cancel within 60 days of signing and get everything back. After that you get your contributions back less fees, may forfeit earnings to the rest of the group, and must return the government grants. Sales fees are usually taken from your early contributions, so cancelling in the first few years returns much less than you paid in. Missing a scheduled contribution can put the plan in default. If you can't be sure of keeping up fixed payments for 15 years or more, an individual or family plan that lets you contribute whenever you want is usually better than a group plan.

4. The extra grant doesn't carry forward. Unused basic CESG room accumulates at $500 a year, so a family can catch up by contributing up to $5,000 in a year for $1,000 of grant. The Additional CESG can't be caught up, so lower-income families get the most by contributing at least $500 every single year.

5. The age 15 deadline catches teenagers. A child aged 16 or 17 only gets the CESG if at least $2,000 was contributed, or at least $100 a year in any 4 years, by the end of the year they turned 15. Families who start late should contribute before that December 31.

6. Withdrawing contributions early repays the grant. Canada.ca says a withdrawal of contributions normally requires the CESG to be repaid, unless the student is eligible for an Educational Assistance Payment or you're fixing a small over-contribution, and the repaid grant room isn't restored.

7. Saskatchewan's grant is gone. The Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) was suspended on January 1, 2018, and promoters had to convert all SAGES money in RESPs into accumulated income on September 1, 2023. Ignore older articles that still list it. Canada.ca now lists only B.C. and Quebec as provinces adding money.

How to Open an RESP and Get the Grants

Opening an RESP and claiming the grants takes 5 steps, and you don't need a bank account to start, according to Canada.ca.

1. Get a SIN for the child, and for yourself if you don't have one. The CESG, CLB and BCTESG all need it.
2. Pick a promoter from Canada.ca's list of RESP promoters, and ask in writing about fees, contribution rules, which grants it offers, and what happens if you stop paying or the child doesn't study. Canada.ca's own brochure tells you not to sign until you understand the fees and penalties.
3. Choose the plan type. A family plan lets siblings share the CESG (up to $7,200 each) and the B.C. and Quebec grants; the CLB stays with the child it was paid for. An individual plan suits one child or a child you're not related to. A group plan pools money with other children born the same year.
4. Sign the grant application with the promoter. Canada.ca says the promoter applies for the CLB, CESG and provincial benefits at the same time, and the CESG is usually deposited within 6 to 8 weeks of an eligible contribution once the application is processed.
5. Apply for the BCTESG between ages 6 and 9 if you live in B.C. Quebec's QESI is requested by the plan's trustee from Revenu Québec, which pays it once a year in May.

The CLB is getting easier from 2028. Canada.ca says that from April 2028 the government will open an RESP automatically for eligible children born in 2024 or later who don't have one by age 4, and families of children born earlier can ask for one from 2028. Opt-out requests start in 2027. The 2025 statistical review adds that Budget 2024 announced plans to extend the age for claiming the bond retroactively from 20 to 30, which the review's footnotes put in 2028. Until Canada.ca's CLB pages change, treat age 21 as the deadline.

Using the Money, and What Happens If Your Child Doesn't Study

The student can take up to $8,000 in Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) in the first 13 weeks of full-time study, and $4,000 per 13 weeks part-time, according to Canada.ca. After the first 13 weeks of full-time study there's no limit unless the student takes a 12-month break. EAPs contain the grants and investment growth and are taxed as the student's income, which is often low. Your own contributions come out tax-free. Students who also apply for student aid are assessed for federal grants as well; our Canada Student Grant guide covers those grants and the income cut-offs.

The program must be at a designated school, at least 3 consecutive weeks with 10 hours a week for full-time study in Canada, or 13 weeks abroad (3 weeks for a university program). That covers trades, apprenticeships, colleges, CEGEPs and universities. The B.C. government says the BCTESG doesn't have to be repaid if the student starts a qualifying program but doesn't graduate.

If the child doesn't go on to post-secondary education, you have 4 choices: keep the RESP open for later study, name another beneficiary, transfer the money to another registered plan, or close it. You can contribute to an RESP for up to 31 years and have up to 35 years to use the money, according to Canada.ca. When it closes:

The Canada Revenue Agency's RESP payments page (opens in a new tab) says an Accumulated Income Payment is normally only allowed after the year of the plan's 9th anniversary when every beneficiary is at least 21 and not eligible for an EAP, and the RESP must then close by the end of February of the following year. If the child has a severe and prolonged disability, earnings can sometimes roll into their RDSP instead.

Scams and Red Flags

The grants are free to claim through any promoter, so anyone charging a fee to "unlock" an RESP grant or Learning Bond is a red flag. Keep these points in mind:

• The promoter applies for you. Canada.ca says the grants are requested through the RESP promoter when you open the plan. Nobody legitimate needs a separate payment to process the CESG, CLB or BCTESG.
• Automatic Learning Bond letters ask for nothing. Canada.ca says families who get a letter about automatic enrolment don't need to do anything right now, and their information won't be shared with an RESP provider when the government opens the account. A caller asking for your SIN or bank details to "complete" automatic enrolment isn't following the government's process.
• Don't sign a group plan on the spot. Scholarship plan dealers must give you a prospectus with a short Plan Summary, so take it home and read the fees first. You have 60 days after signing to cancel a scholarship plan dealer's plan without penalty.
• Confirm by phone yourself. For general questions, call 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232), the number Canada.ca lists, and report fraud attempts to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (opens in a new tab).

The Canada Disability Savings Grant and Other Help

People searching for RESP grants often mean the Canada Disability Savings Grant, which goes into an RDSP instead. According to the Canada Revenue Agency's grant and bond page (opens in a new tab), it matches contributions at 300%, 200% or 100% depending on income, up to $3,500 a year and $70,000 for life, and the separate disability savings bond pays up to $1,000 a year (to $20,000) with no contribution needed. With 2025 adjusted family net income of $114,750 or less, the first $500 contributed earns $3 per dollar and the next $1,000 earns $2 per dollar.

An RESP rarely covers everything, so plan to combine it with other money:

• Student grants. Our Canada Student Grant guide covers the federal grants of up to $4,200 a year for full-time students, assessed through your province's student aid application.
• Ontario families. Read our OSAP grants guide for Ontario's own grants and loans.
• B.C. homeowners. Families stretching to save in B.C. should check the B.C. Home Owner Grant guide for property tax relief.
• Summer earnings. Our Canada Summer Jobs guide explains the federal wage subsidy behind many paid student summer jobs.

Sources Checked

All pages read and files downloaded on October 30, 2026, unless an archive date is given.

• Canada.ca: Registered Education Savings Plans and related benefits (opens in a new tab), How much money benefits could add to the RESP (opens in a new tab), How the RESP and related benefits work together (opens in a new tab), Open an RESP and apply for benefits (opens in a new tab), Managing the RESP, taxes and transfers (opens in a new tab), Pay for education using the RESP (opens in a new tab), Canada Learning Bond automatic enrolment (opens in a new tab), Choosing the right RESP brochure (opens in a new tab)
• Employment and Social Development Canada, Canada Education Savings Program: 2025 Annual Statistical Review (opens in a new tab)
• Canada Revenue Agency: Payments from an RESP (opens in a new tab) and Canada disability savings grant and bond (opens in a new tab)
• Government of British Columbia, British Columbia Training and Education Savings Grant (opens in a new tab)
• Revenu Québec, Quebec Education Savings Incentive: "Determining the QESI Amount" (Internet Archive copy of October 18, 2026) and "Eligibility Requirements" (Internet Archive copy of October 10, 2025), originals at revenuquebec.ca (opens in a new tab)
• Ontario Securities Commission, GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca, "Understanding group RESPs" (Internet Archive copy of June 18, 2026)