RESP guide Canada 2026: how to get $7,200 in free government money for your child’s education

A 20% match, guaranteed, on the first $2,500 you put away each year. There is nothing else like it in Canadian personal finance.

The three layers of government money

• Basic CESG. 20% on the first $2,500 a year, to $7,200 lifetime.
• Additional CESG. A further 10% or 20% on the first $500, for families under the income thresholds.
• Canada Learning Bond. Up to $2,000 for eligible lower-income families, with no contribution required at all.

Several provinces add their own grants on top. Check what is available where you live before you assume the federal grant is the whole picture.

An eighteen-year projection

Contribute $208 a month from birth at a 5.5% return and the account reaches roughly $85,000 by age eighteen: about $45,000 of contributions, $7,200 of grant, and the rest growth. The grant alone compounds to well over $12,000 by the time it is withdrawn.

What happens at withdrawal

Your contributions come back tax-free. Grants and growth are paid out as Educational Assistance Payments and taxed in the student’s hands — which, on a student income, usually means little or no tax at all.

If they do not go

1. Keep the plan open. An RESP can stay open for 35 years, and plans change.
2. Transfer to a sibling, subject to the lifetime limits.
3. Roll up to $50,000 of growth into your RRSP if you have room.
4. Collapse the plan: grants are returned, and growth is taxed at your rate plus 20%.