RESP Guide Canada (2026): How Registered Education Savings Plans Work

A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is the account Canadian families can use to save for a child’s education after high school. Its appeal is the government money attached to it: the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) adds 20% to the first $2,500 you put in for a child each year, and lower-income families can also get the Canada Learning Bond without contributing anything. This guide covers how the account works from opening to withdrawal. Each section links to the page in our RESP hub that covers that topic in full.

How an RESP works

Three roles make up every plan:

• Subscriber: the person who opens the plan with the promoter (usually a parent or grandparent). This can include adults that open plans for themselves.
• Beneficiary: the person that the plan is saving for. They will be the recipient of the money from the RESP to pay for their education.
• Promoter: the financial institution that opens and holds the plan. They also are responsible for the release of money from the plan. Our comparison of RESP providers covers the choices.

Contributions are not tax-deductible, but investment growth inside the plan is not taxed while it stays there. When the beneficiary enrols in a qualifying program, the grants and the growth come out as Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs), which are taxed as the student’s income. The subscriber’s own contributions can come back without tax if the plan’s terms allow it (taking them out can mean repaying some of the grants), because they were made with after-tax money.

To see how these pieces add up for your own child, the RESP calculator projects contributions, grants and growth to the year school starts.

The Canada Education Savings Grant

The CESG is paid into the plan by the federal government:

• Basic CESG: 20% of the first $2,500 contributed each year, or $500 a year.
• Additional CESG: families under the income thresholds get an extra 10% or 20% on the first $500.
• Unused room carries forward. A year with no contribution isn’t lost: in a later year the plan can receive up to $1,000 of CESG on a $5,000 contribution.
• Lifetime limit: $7,200 per child, paid until the end of the year the child turns 17.

How to time contributions so the plan collects the full amount, including the catch-up math and the income-tested top-up, is covered in our guide to maximising the CESG. The grant has two hard stops, a December 31 cutoff each year and a special test for the years a child turns 16 or 17, both explained on the CESG deadline page.

The Canada Learning Bond

Source: Employment and Social Development Canada – RESP, CESG and CLB. No RESP contribution required to receive the CLB. Eligible until the end of the year the beneficiary turns 15 (retroactive claims possible until age 21).

How it works:

• Eligibility for each year depends on the family’s adjusted income threshold based on their number of children.
• The first $500 is paid for the first eligible year, then $100 for each later eligible year up to the year the child turns 15.
• A child who didn’t receive it can request it themselves: from age 18 until the day before they turn 21.

Like the CESG, the bond is paid out to the student as part of an EAP, and goes back to the government if the child never uses the plan for school.

Contribution limits

There is no annual limit, only the $50,000 lifetime limit per beneficiary. It counts contributions to every RESP that names the child, including plans opened by grandparents or by the other parent. Money above the limit is taxed at 1% a month until it is withdrawn; our RESP overcontribution guide explains the tax and the fix.

Individual and family plans

• An individual plan has one beneficiary, an adult can open one for any child, or for themselves.
• A family plan can have several beneficiaries, each connected to the subscriber by blood or adoption, and each under 21 when added.

Family plans let brothers and sisters draw on one pool of savings. How the grants are tracked and shared is covered in can siblings share an RESP.

Investing inside an RESP

An RESP can hold savings deposits, GICs, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and stocks, depending on the provider. Because the money is needed on a known date, it is important to manage the risk profile of the investments appropriately. Some providers offer education portfolios that help manage this. The provider choice (self-directed, managed or group plan) sets which investments are available as well as what the plan will cost.

Withdrawals

Once the beneficiary enrols in a qualifying program, money leaves the plan in two ways:

The first 13 consecutive weeks of full-time study carry a cap of $8,000 on EAPs. Timing the EAPs across the years of study so the student pays little tax is covered in our RESP withdrawal guide, and what happens when your child turns 18 covers who controls the money once the child is an adult.

Qualifying programs include college, CEGEP, trade school and apprenticeship training, not only university; the program rules are explained in using an RESP for trade school. Schools abroad can qualify too, with different minimum lengths, as set out in using an RESP at a school outside Canada.

If your child doesn’t go to post-secondary school

An RESP has more options than closing it:

1. Keep it open. The child may enrol later; the plan can run until the end of the year of its 35th anniversary (specified plans: the 40th).
2. Change the beneficiary. Naming a brother or sister under 21 can keep the grants in the plan if the sibling has grant room. The full rules are in changing an RESP beneficiary.
3. Move the earnings to an RRSP. Up to $50,000 of the plan’s income can go into your RRSP if you have the room, avoiding the extra tax on an accumulated income payment. Our page on transferring an RESP to an RRSP covers the conditions.
4. Close it. Contributions come back tax-free, grants go back to the government, and the income is taxed as yours plus an additional 20% (12% federal for Quebec residents).

The page on what to do if your child doesn’t go to university compares these options side by side.

Special situations

• Separated or divorced parents: both legal parents can jointly open an RESP after a separation or divorce, and a former spouse can replace the original subscriber after a marriage breakdown if a decree, order or judgment recognizes the separation or divorce. See RESPs for divorced parents.
• Student loans: how RESP money fits alongside government student aid is covered in RESP vs student loans.
• Other accounts: we compare the RESP with a TFSA in RESP vs TFSA for education, with an RRSP in RRSP vs RESP, and with an informal trust in our guide to in-trust accounts.