CANADA EDUCATION SAVINGS PROGRAM TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ADDITIONAL CANADA EDUCATION SAVINGS GRANT (Additional CESG) This is a payment over and above the Basic Canada Education Savings Grant. This is extra money offered by the Government of Canada to further encourage low-income families to save for a child’s post-secondary education. This grant is paid directly into a child’s RESP by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). BENEFICIARY An RESP beneficiary is usually a child, but can be any person named by the subscriber of an RESP to receive money for education after high school in the form of Educational Assistance Payments. Payments to a beneficiary are made according to the specific terms of the RESP. CANADA EDUCATION SAVINGS GRANT (CESG) This is a grant offered by the Government of Canada to encourage parents, family and friends to save for a child’s post-secondary education. A CESG is paid by ESDC directly into a RESP in which the child is named as the beneficiary. CANADA EDUCATION SAVINGS PROGRAM (CESP) This is a program within ESDC that administers the Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond to encourage early savings into Registered Education Savings Plans for a child’s post-secondary education. CANADA LEARNING BOND (CLB) This is a grant offered by the Government of Canada to help low- to modest-income families start saving for their child’s post-secondary education. The CLB is paid by ESDC directly into the RESP of a child who is a named beneficiary and whose parent or guardian is eligible to receive the National Child Benefit Supplement. CESG PARTICIPATION RATE The Canada Education Savings Grant participation rate is defined as the cumulative number of RESP beneficiaries (age 0 to 17) who have ever received a grant divided by the total number of children (age 0 to 17) in the Canadian population. CLB PARTICIPATION RATE The CLB participation rate is a ratio between the number of CLB beneficiaries and eligible children. It is the number of children who have ever received a CLB, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children eligible for the bond, as of a given year. EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS (EAPs) EAPs are amounts paid from a Registered Education Savings Plan to an eligible beneficiary to assist with education-related expenses at the post-secondary level. As such, EAPs include the Canada Education Savings Grant, the Canada Learning Bond, and the income earned on the money saved in the RESP. EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CANADA (ESDC) ESDC is a department of the Government of Canada whose mission is to build a stronger and more competitive Canada, to support Canadians in making choices that help them live productive and rewarding lives, and to improve Canadians’ quality of life. POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION (PSE) This refers to qualifying educational programs in designated institutions (e.g. CEGEPs, colleges, universities or others) in Canada or abroad. POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION WITHDRAWAL This is a withdrawal of contributions made by the subscriber to an RESP when a beneficiary is enrolled in post-secondary education. REGISTERED EDUCATION SAVINGS PLAN (RESP) An RESP is an education savings account that can help Canadians save for post-secondary education. RESPs are registered by the Government of Canada to allow savings for education to grow tax-free until the person named in the RESP enrolls in post-secondary education. RESP CONTRIBUTION A contribution is the amount of savings deposited into a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) account on behalf of a child, known as the beneficiary of the RESP. Earnings on RESP savings can grow tax-free until the money is withdrawn by the beneficiary to finance their post-secondary studies. RESP PROVIDERS Providers are financial organizations such as banks or credit unions, certified financial planners or group plan dealers that provide Registered Education Savings Plans to Canadians. They administer all amounts paid into the plan and ensure the payments from the RESP are made according to the terms of the plan and the laws that govern it. RESP PROVIDER TYPE RESP provider type refers to the classification system that the Canada Education Savings Program uses to categorize the financial organizations based on their primary business structure. In 2013, the methodology was updated and, as a result, the number of provider types has been reduced from five to four. These are defined below: Banking Services: This industry group consists of companies that work in the banking, consumer lending and corporate financial services industry. The companies are deposit-taking institutions that are involved in commercial banking, retail and mortgage banking, and private banking activities. Investment Services: This industry group consists of companies that conduct investment banking, brokerage service, investment management and fund operation, wealth management, private equity, security and commodity exchanges and diversified investment services, which combine investment banking/security brokerage services with investment management/fund operating operations. Insurance and Other: This industry group includes those companies that operate in the property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance and reinsurance industries. This provider type also includes establishments that cannot be grouped under any other types of the classification system. Group Plan Promoters: Group plan promoters offer group plan RESPs, which are a collection of individual contracts administered for a group of beneficiaries born in the same year. RESP WITHDRAWALS These are made from a Registered Education Savings Plan to pay for post-secondary education. They include both Educational Assistance Payments and Post-Secondary Education Withdrawals. RESP WITHDRAWAL RATE The RESP withdrawal rate by age is obtained by dividing the number of beneficiaries who have withdrawn money in a year by the total number of beneficiaries of that age in that year. SUBSCRIBER A subscriber is an individual who opens a Registered Education Savings Plan to make contributions to an RESP on behalf of an individual named as a beneficiary. A subscriber can be a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling or friend of the beneficiary.