RESP Calculator Canada
See what your child's education savings could be worth by the time they finish high school including the 20% federal grant most families don't fully claim.
Enter what you can contribute, your child's age, and the return you want to assume. We'll show you contributions, government grants and growth separately, so you can see exactly where the money comes from.
RESP Parameters
Estimated Fund at Age 18
$85,768
In 17 years of saving
Your Contributions
$42,499
49.6% of total fund
Free Govt Grants
$7,200
CESG: $7,200
Compound Growth
$36,069
Investment earnings inside RESP
🎉 Maximum $7,200 federal CESG grant room fully achieved!
Provides approximately $1,787/month during 4 years of higher education.
Projected RESP Portfolio Growth
Annual RESP Contribution & Grant Schedule
| Year 1 | 2 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$90 | $3,090 |
| Year 2 | 3 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$275 | $6,365 |
| Year 3 | 4 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$472 | $9,837 |
| Year 4 | 5 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$680 | $13,517 |
| Year 5 | 6 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$901 | $17,418 |
| Year 6 | 7 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$1,135 | $21,553 |
| Year 7 | 8 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$1,383 | $25,937 |
| Year 8 | 9 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$1,646 | $30,583 |
| Year 9 | 10 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$1,925 | $35,508 |
| Year 10 | 11 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$2,220 | $40,728 |
| Year 11 | 12 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$2,534 | $46,262 |
| Year 12 | 13 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$2,866 | $52,127 |
| Year 13 | 14 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$3,218 | $58,345 |
| Year 14 | 15 yrs | $2,500 | +$500 | — | +$3,591 | $64,936 |
| Year 15 | 16 yrs | $2,500 | +$200 | — | +$3,977 | $71,613 |
| Year 16 | 17 yrs | $2,500 | +$0 | — | +$4,372 | $78,484 |
| Year 17 | 18 yrs | $2,500 | +$0 | — | +$4,784 | $85,768 |
What This Calculator Assumes
We're putting this second, before anything else, because it's the part most education savings calculators bury.
This is a projection, not a forecast. An RESP runs for eighteen years or more, and nobody knows what markets will do over that period. The number at the top of this page depends heavily on an assumption you can change and small changes make large differences.
Here is the same family, contributing the same $2,500 a year from birth, with the full grant:
| Annual return | Value at age 18 |
|---|---|
| 4% | $77,600 |
| 5% (Base) | $86,000 |
| 6% | $95,400 |
Same contributions. Same grants. A $17,800 spread, produced entirely by an assumption.
That's why we default to 5% rather than something more flattering, show you the range rather than a single number, and let you change it. A calculator that shows you one confident figure isn't being more accurate it's just being quieter about the uncertainty.
The specific assumptions:
- Contributions are made at the start of each year; grants are credited during the year
- Returns compound annually at the rate you set, with no year to year variation
- Fees are deducted from the return set your MER in the fee field
- Results are in today's dollars only, not adjusted for inflation. Tuition has been rising roughly 1 to 2% a year, so $86,000 in eighteen years won't buy eighteen years' worth of today's tuition
- Grants assume you remain eligible and contribute enough to claim them
How This Calculator Works
Enter four things: your contribution, your child's current age, an expected return, and your province.
The calculator applies the Canada Education Savings Grant at 20% of your contributions, up to $500 a year and $7,200 over the child's lifetime. If you're in British Columbia or Quebec, it adds the provincial grant. It then compounds contributions and grants separately so you can see how much of the final figure is yours, how much is the government's, and how much is growth.
Why we separate the grant
Most parents underestimate how much the CESG contributes. On a full $2,500 a year from birth, the grant adds $7,200 of free money and because it's invested alongside your contributions for years, it's worth considerably more than $7,200 by the end. Seeing it as its own line makes the case for contributing $2,500 rather than $2,000 far more obvious than any argument could.
What Is an RESP?
A Registered Education Savings Plan is a tax sheltered account for saving toward a child's post secondary education. You contribute after tax money; it grows tax free inside the plan; and when the child enrols in a qualifying program, the growth and grants are withdrawn and taxed in the student's hands rather than yours usually at little or no tax, because students have low incomes and large tuition credits.
The person who opens the plan and contributes. Usually a parent or grandparent.
The child the plan is created for.
The financial institution holding and managing the plan.
Plan types: An individual plan has one beneficiary. A family plan can have several, who must be related to the subscriber, and lets you move money between them if one child's path changes.
Limits: $50,000 lifetime per beneficiary, with no annual cap. Over contribute and you pay a 1% per month penalty on the excess until it's withdrawn. A plan can stay open for 35 years 40 if the beneficiary qualifies for the Disability Tax Credit.
The Canada Education Savings Grant, Explained
The CESG is the reason an RESP beats almost any other education savings vehicle.
The federal government matches 20% of your contributions, up to $500 a year per child, to a lifetime maximum of $7,200.
To get the full $500, contribute $2,500 in a calendar year. Contribute less and you get 20% of whatever you put in. Contribute more and the extra doesn't attract additional grant that year though it still grows tax sheltered.
Carry forward
If you don't contribute in a year, the grant room doesn't vanish. It carries forward, and you can claim up to $1,000 of CESG in a single year (the current year's $500 plus one year of catch up) by contributing $5,000.
You can't compress more than that. Two years of catch up in one year isn't possible, which is what makes starting early matter and what makes very late starts genuinely costly.
When the grant stops
CESG is available until the end of the year the child turns 17.
Special rules apply for contributions made in the years a child turns 16 and 17 to prevent last minute grant claims without prior savings history.
Additional CESG and the Canada Learning Bond
Two federal programs go further for lower income families, and both are under claimed.
Additional CESG
On top of the basic 20%, families below an income threshold receive an extra 20% on the first $500 contributed each year up to $100 more. Families in a middle band receive an extra 10% on the first $500, up to $50 more.
For a family who can only manage $500 a year, this matters enormously: that $500 can attract $200 in grants a 40% return before a dollar of market growth.
The Canada Learning Bond
The CLB provides up to $2,000 per eligible child and requires no contributions at all. You get $500 in the first year of eligibility and $100 for each additional eligible year, up to age 15.
You still need an RESP open to receive it. That's the barrier the money is sitting there for hundreds of thousands of eligible children whose families haven't opened an account.
If your family income is modest, opening an RESP is worth doing even if you can never contribute a cent. That's the single most useful sentence on this page for the families it applies to.
Provincial Grants Only Two Provinces Have Them
This gets misrepresented constantly, so plainly: only British Columbia and Quebec offer RESP grants. Alberta's ACES and Saskatchewan's SAGES have both been discontinued. If you live anywhere else, the federal programs are what's available to you.
British Columbia BCTESG
A one time $1,200 grant. The child and a parent or guardian must be BC residents when you apply, and no contribution is required to receive it. Your promoter applies on your behalf, and there's a window tied to the child's age, so ask about it when you open the plan.
Quebec QESI
The Québec Education Savings Incentive is a refundable tax credit paid directly into the RESP, administered by Revenu Québec rather than the federal government.
It pays 10% of annual contributions up to $250 a year, plus up to $50 more for lower income families, to a lifetime maximum of $3,600. Unused entitlement of up to $250 carries forward.
How Much Should You Contribute?
The short answer: $2,500 a year, or about $208 a month, from birth. That captures the full $500 grant every year and the complete $7,200 lifetime maximum.
If $208 a month isn't realistic
It isn't for a lot of families government data puts the average monthly RESP contribution at around $153. Contributing less is emphatically worth doing:
| Monthly | Annual | Annual CESG | Total contributed to 18 | Total grants | Projected at 18 (5%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $600 | $120 | $10,800 | $2,160 | ~$21,000 |
| $100 | $1,200 | $240 | $21,600 | $4,320 | ~$42,000 |
| $208 | $2,500 | $500 | $45,000 | $7,200 | ~$86,000 |
Every one of those rows collects a 20% government match. There is no threshold you have to clear to start.
What fees do to this
Take the $2,500 a year family, assuming a 5% return before fees:
| Annual fee (MER) | Net return | Value at 18 |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2% (index ETF) | 4.8% | $84,200 |
| 2.0% (typical mutual fund) | 3.0% | $70,100 |
A $14,100 difference from fees alone, on identical contributions and identical grants. Over eighteen years, a percentage point or two compounds into real money which is why the fee field is on this calculator and why it's worth asking any provider what theirs is before you sign.
Starting Late Can You Still Catch Up?
Yes, more than most people assume. This is the question we get asked most, and the honest answer is more encouraging than the internet generally suggests.
Because unused grant room carries forward and you can claim up to $1,000 of CESG a year, a family starting later can still collect the full $7,200 as long as they have enough years and enough cash flow.
Starting at age 10
Contributing $5,000 a year from age 10 to 17 eight years claims $1,000 of grant annually and reaches the full $7,200 lifetime maximum with room to spare.
| Item | From birth, $2,500/yr | From age 10, $5,000/yr |
|---|---|---|
| Years contributing | 18 | 8 |
| Total contributed | $45,000 | $40,000 |
| Grants received | $7,200 | $7,200 |
| Projected at 18 (5%) | $86,000 | $58,900 |
The late starter gets every dollar of grant. What they don't get is time $5,000 less contributed produces $27,100 less, because the early years compound the longest.
The Rule That Costs Families $1,000 at Age 16
Almost nobody knows this one, and it's expensive.
To receive any CESG in the years your child turns 16 and 17, at least one of these must already be true:
- At least $2,000 has been contributed to the RESP before the year they turn 16, or
- At least $100 a year was contributed in any four years before the year they turn 16
If neither applies, you get no grant in those final two years up to $1,000 gone, with no way to recover it.
What Post Secondary Actually Costs
Most parents underestimate this substantially. A CIBC survey found four in five parents couldn't accurately estimate tuition, with only 20% placing it in the correct range.
Tuition, 2025 to 2026 (Statistics Canada):
- Undergraduate average: $7,734 a year, up 1.4%
- Graduate average: $7,978 a year
- Provincial range: roughly $3,200 in Newfoundland to $8,200+ in Ontario
- Professional programs (engineering, business, law, medicine): $12,000 to $22,000+
- International undergraduate: $41,746
But tuition is the smaller half. Students living away from home pay an average of about $1,146 a month in rent, and $1,600 to $1,800 in Toronto often on twelve month leases for an eight month academic year. Add food, books, transit and supplies and a realistic all in figure lands near $25,000 to $30,000 a year, or $100,000+ for a four year degree.
Individual vs Group RESPs What to Know Before You Sign
Not all RESPs work the same way, and the differences matter more than almost anything else on this page.
Individual and family plans
Opened at a bank, credit union, robo advisor or discount brokerage. Free to open. You choose the investments, contribute whatever you want whenever you want, and can stop, restart or transfer without penalty.
Group plans (scholarship plans)
Sold by scholarship plan dealers. You buy units, usually tied to your child's birth date, and commit to a fixed contribution schedule. Enrolment fees are typically paid out of your earliest contributions.
Getting the Money Out
When your child enrols in a qualifying program, withdrawals split into two types with very different tax treatment.
Your original contributions come back to you, the subscriber. Tax free, no limit, no tax slip. You already paid tax on this money.
Government grants plus investment growth. Paid to the student, taxable in the student's hands, reported on a T4A in box 042.
| Enrolment | EAP limit |
|---|---|
| Full time, first 13 consecutive weeks | $8,000 |
| Full time, after 13 weeks | No limit |
| Part time | $4,000 per 13 week period |
What If Your Child Doesn't Go?
The most common worry parents have, and the options are better than most expect.
- Wait: The plan can stay open for 35 years. Trade schools, apprenticeships and part time programs all qualify.
- Transfer to a sibling: In a family plan this is straightforward.
- Take contributions back: They're always yours, tax free.
- Roll growth into RRSP: Up to $50,000 of accumulated growth can move into your RRSP tax free if you have contribution room.
- AIP withdrawal: Taxable as income plus 20% tax penalty. Government grants must be returned.
Coming in 2028 Automatic RESPs
From April 2028, the federal government will automatically open an RESP to receive the Canada Learning Bond for an eligible child who is born in 2024 or later, has a valid SIN, and is not named in an RESP by age 4.
RESP vs TFSA for Education Savings
| Feature | RESP | TFSA |
|---|---|---|
| Government grant | Up to $7,200 CESG + CLB | None |
| Contribution limit | $50,000 lifetime per child | Your own annual room |
| Tax on growth | Deferred; taxed to student | Never taxed |
| If not used for school | Grants repaid; growth taxed +20% | No restriction |
| Who controls it | Subscriber | You |
Why Use the CalcVault RESP Calculator
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Sources and Disclaimer
Method: Contributions are modelled as annuity-due (start of year); grants are credited during the year. Growth compounds annually at the rate you set, net of fees. Results are nominal (not adjusted for inflation).
Sources: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Canada Revenue Agency (Guide RC4092), Revenu Québec (QESI), Government of BC (BCTESG), Statistics Canada (tuition rates).
Limitations: Projections are illustrative. Actual returns vary year to year and can be negative. Grant eligibility depends on residency, income and contribution history.
Disclaimer: CalcVault is not a financial advisor, RESP promoter, or dealer, and is not affiliated with the CRA, ESDC, or Revenu Québec. This calculator and content are general information only.