How to Get Free Money to Save for Your Child's College Education

Did you know that a college educated person will earn 2.5 times
more over a lifetime than someone without a post secondary
education? College educated people are more likely to keep their
jobs when times are tough and are more likely to be working than
those without a post secondary education. Now getting an
education can be expensive. One year in a Canadian degree
program such as an arts and science program can easily cost
$5000/year. If you are an out of province student, the
extraneous expenditures can easily increase your education costs
by $3000/school year. 

To help pay for future education cost, the Government of Canada
has taken great initiative to ensure that every Canadian child
will have the funds necessary to get an education by providing
families with free government grants. The free grant was
introduced in 1998 to encourage parents to start saving for
their children's education costs and it has been ever
increasingly growing in popularity.

How does the program work? The most popular form of the
education savings is the registered education savings plan known
as an Resp. Although an Resp can be started at any time, parents
are advised to start an Resp when the child is born. Qualifying
families who start the plan early will receive a $500 government
bond in the first year to invest towards the program. Once the
plan is started, the Government of Canada will continue to
contribute by matching every dollar invested anywhere from 20 up
to 40%. 

A good strategy for investing into an resp is to invest your
monthly government child tax benefit. So for example, if your
family receives $50/month per child in child tax benefit and if
you invest the benefit into an Resp, not only will your Resp
earn interest from the investment firm but it will also be
topped up with the 20-40% contribution from the government.
Therefore, a $50/month investment earning 5% annually will
easily gross $45,000 at maturity (18 year plan). And the best
part is you will be using free money from the government (Child
Tax Benefit) to earn free government grants on the investment.
So take advantage of the free government grants by opening an
Resp and secure your child's future.