Education Savings Calculator
This tool is designed to help you identify the cost of your child's post-secondary education and develop a savings plan to cover those costs. The tool allows you to build a plan for up to 4 children and takes into account the varying tuition and room and board (living) costs from province to province.

When using this calculator, it is important to understand how RESPs are managed by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Under the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) program, you are allowed to contribute a maximum of $4000 a year per child to an RESP. While the annual RESP contribution limit is $4000, the minimum Grant available to each child is 20% of annual contributions to a maximum of $400, per year. In other words, a $2000 annual contribution to a RESP will be met with the maximum CESG grant amount of $400.

If your income is between $35,595 and $71,190 you can receive a 30% CES grant on your first $500 annual contributions and 20% on the rest, up to a maximum of $450 grant.

If your net combined family income is less than $35, 595, you are eligible for a 40% CES grant on the first $500 annual contributions and 20% on the rest of them, up to a maximum of $500 grant. Plus you are eligible to receive the Canada Learning Bond of $500 for the first year, and $100 for each year until the child reaches 16 years of age.

Family Information And Current Savings
Child's Name - Enter the name of each of the children you are creating the plan for, up to a maximum of four.

Year of birth - What is the year of birth of each child?

Age to Start His/Her Post Secondary Education - At what age do you expect the children to begin their post secondary education? By default we have chosen 18 as it is the most common age. For the purpose of this tool, we will assume that all monthly contributions will stop at that point.

Number of Years in School - How many years will the children be at school for? Typically a bachelor's degree with honours takes 4 years to complete.

Value of Your Existing RESPs Savings- If you already have an RESP for the children, enter the current value of each child's plan.

Value of Your Existing Non-RESP Savings - If you are saving for your child's education in a non-registered bank account, enter the current value of those savings for each child.

Current or Expected Annual Rate of Return - Enter the rate of return you expect to realize on your contributions/savings. This figure is applied equally to both the RESP and non-RESP savings. For the non-RESP savings that interest rate is subject to the Canadian average marginal tax rate of 40%, which reduces it accordingly.

Your Children’s Post Secondary Education Costs
Studying at Home or Away From Home

Indicate if you expect your children will live at home or away from home while pursuing their post-secondary studies. If you select the Away From Home choice, the field Room and Board costs will be populated using Room & Board costs.

Current Yearly Tuition Costs by Province of Study

Select the province where you expect each of your children will go to school. If you are uncertain, use the default CAN choice which is a Canadian cost average. By selecting a province, the Tuition Costs fields will be populated with average figures for that province. Tuition costs were taken from "Statistics Canada - The Daily, Thursday, September 2, 2004. University tuition fees 2003-2004 and compulsory fees".

Current Yearly Room & Board Costs

These values are populated based on the province selected for one year of university studies. You are free to change them to other amounts. The source is "Statistics Canada - University tuition fees 2002-2003 - Table 4. Living Accommodation Costs at Residences, 2002-2003".

Your Savings Needs
Projected Education Costs
This is the projected cost of your children's education based on current yearly tuition and room & board costs, the number of years in school, the inflation rate, and the number of years remaining until your children start their post-secondary studies.

Your Existing RESPs Savings
This is the value of your existing RESP savings.

Your Existing Non-RESP RESP savings
This is the future value of your existing Non-RESP savings.

(Shortfall)/Surplus If No Other Contribution Are Made
This shortfall amount represents what you still need to save in order to meet the projected cost of your child's education. If you see a surplus amount, then you have already saved enough to cover the projected cost of your child's education.

Recommended Contributions
Recommended Monthly RESP Contributions
The tool calculates the recommended monthly savings amount to reach the goal/shortfall up until your children start their post-secondary studies. In many cases you will still be able to reach your savings goal with smaller amounts over a longer period of time (i.e. after the child starts school for instance).

Monthly CESG Benefit Received Based On This Contribution
This is the amount of Canada Education Savings Grant you receive each month based on the recommended RESP contribution shown above and your net family income. This amount will grow over the years to help you reach your goal.

Recommended Monthly Non-RESP Contributions (if needed to reach your goal)
The tool calculates the recommended monthly savings amount to reach your goal/shortfall up until your child starts his post-secondary studies. Monthly contributions are first applied to RESP monthly savings as they are more advantageous because of the tax free growth and the government benefits received. There will only be an amount in this field if the total recommended monthly contribution will bring you over the RESP $4000 yearly contribution limit or the $42,000 RESP maximum lifetime limit.

How Much Can You Contribute Each Month?
Indicate the amount you are able to contribute each month. These dollars will be applied first to the RESP as they are more advantageous because of the tax free growth and the government benefits received. Amounts above the recommended yearly and lifetime RESP limits will be applied to non-RESP savings.

Your Contributions
Your Monthly RESP Contributions.
This is based on the amount you've indicated you can contribute on a monthly basis. Since it is more advantageous to contribute to RESPs because of the various government benefits you can receive and the tax free growth of your savings, only if your proposed monthly contribution and perhaps past RESP contributions bring you over the monthly RESP limits, will a portion of your proposed contribution be applied to monthly non-RESP contributions.

Monthly CESG Benefit Received Based On Your RESP Contribution
This is the amount of Canada Education Savings Grant you receive each month based on the allocated RESP contribution (of your suggested monthly contribution) shown above and your net family income. This amount will grow over the years to help you reach your goal.

Your Monthly Non-RESP Contributions (if your proposed contribution brings you over the RESP limits)
This is the amount you have to contribute to a non-registered account on a monthly basis, since your RESP contributions limits have been reached and are not enough to reach your goal.

Final Percentage of Total Education Costs Covered With Your Savings and Benefits Received
This is the percentage of the projected education costs you will be able to cover based on the future value of the following: existing RESP and non-RESP savings and new contributions, the Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond received (if eligible). If you have not covered 100% of your total education costs, you can click on the "Back" button and change the amount in the box labeled "How Much Can you Contribute Each Month" or play with different variables such as the interest rate.

Your Plan Summary
Projected Value of RESP Savings
This box totals the value of all RESP savings and new contributions and the growth of those savings at the time your children start their post-secondary studies.

Projected Value of CESG
This box totals the value of the government grants received based on your RESP contributions, combined net family income and the growth of those benefits.

Projected Value of Canada Learning Bond (if eligible)
This box totals the value of the Bond money received in your child's RESP account, combined net income and the growth of those benefits at the time your child starts their post-secondary studies.

Projected Value of Non-RESP Savings
This box totals the value of all non-RESP savings and new contributions (if needed to reach your goal) and the growth of those savings at the time your children start their post-secondary studies.

Projected Total Education Costs
This is the projected cost of your child's education based on current tuition and room & board costs (if applicable), the inflation rate applied to each, the number of years in school and the number of years remaining until the child starts his post-secondary studies.

Final (Shortfall)/Surplus
This is the final shortfall or surplus once all your existing and new contributions/savings and benefits received and their growth have been applied to the Projected Total Education Costs. As a result of rounding, there may be a surplus of several dollars.

Final Percentage of Education Costs Covered With Your Savings And Benefits Received
This is the amount of the Projected Total Education Costs covered by the future value of your savings and grants/bonds received, expressed as a percentage.

Your Monthly Contributions (RESP and Non-RESP) For Each Child
This is your monthly contribution per child taking into account both RESP and non-RESP savings (if needed).

Monthly CESG Benefit Received
This is the amount of Canada Education Savings Grant you receive each month based on the allocated RESP contribution (of your whole contribution). This amount will grow over the years to help you reach your goal. The total projected value of the CESG received is shown above.

Total Education Related Contributions for All Your Children
This is the total contribution made over the years for all children combined (excluding interest/growth of savings).

Results and Report

This page provides you with a visual summary of information you provided. A chart is created for each child and illustrates the Child's Projected Education Cost, RESP Savings, CESG received, CLB received, Non-RESP Savings and any Shortfall or Surplus.

For a complete summary of the results generated by the Savings Education Calculator, click on the "Report" button.

Assumptions Made:

This tool assumes that: The information contained herein is based on the user's assumptions and estimates and is intended for illustration purposes only. While care is taken in the preparation of this document, no warranty is made as to the accuracy or applicability in any particular case.