The government adds 20 cents to every dollar. Then it stops.

How the grant works

The Canada Education Savings Grant pays 20 per cent on the first $2,500 you contribute for a child each year — $500 a year — to a lifetime maximum of $7,200 per child. The RESP itself has a $50,000 lifetime contribution limit and no annual limit. Verified against federal publications on 2026-08-24.

Lower-income families also receive an additional grant on the first $500 contributed, and the Canada Learning Bond pays up to $2,000 per eligible child with no contribution required at all. That last one goes unclaimed by a large number of eligible families every year, which is the most avoidable loss on this page.

The two deadlines that matter

• Grant room expires with the child. Grants stop at the end of the year the beneficiary turns 17, with tighter conditions at 16 and 17. Starting at birth gives you eighteen years of $500; starting at twelve gives you six.
• You can only catch up one year at a time. Missed a few years? You can claim up to $1,000 of grant in a single year — contributing $5,000 — but not more. There is no way to contribute $50,000 at once and collect the full $7,200.

$2,500 a year is the number

Contributing more than $2,500 a year attracts no extra grant. It still grows tax-sheltered and is still taxed in the student’s hands on withdrawal — usually at close to zero, given student income — so it is not wasted. But if money is tight, $2,500 per child per year captures the entire available grant and the rest belongs in a TFSA where you keep the flexibility.

Individual, family, and group plans

The gap nobody plans for

An RESP funded by one parent stops being funded if that parent’s income stops. If education funding is a commitment you want kept regardless, the RESP and the life insurance conversation belong together — the education shortfall is a line in the coverage calculation for exactly this reason.