Provincial governments make efforts to help Canadian families save for their children's post-secondary education

TORONTO, June 24, 2013 /CNW/ - Heritage Education Funds is pleased to share that both British Columbia and Saskatchewan have pursued provincial education grants for the residents in their provinces. These grants support families saving for post-secondary education for their children, and are deposited directly into the child's Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP).

"These new provincial incentives are an exciting benefit to an already wonderful product. Heritage RESPs have been assisting families to save for their children's futures for nearly five decades, and it's wonderful to see additional support for Canadian families who are planning ahead for their children's education" says Jason Maguire, President, Heritage Education Funds.

Many Canadian families have already benefited in building up their RESPs with federal incentives such as the Canada Education Savings Grant* (CESG), which contributes up to 20% of the first $2,500 of your annual contributions into your RESP. You can receive up to the maximum of $7,200 in CESG per eligible child, and in addition, the federal government provides a one time initial contribution of $500, and then annually $100 into RESPs. This incentive is the Canada Learning Bond* (CLB). If you are a lucky resident of Alberta or Quebec, you can gain even more through their provincial governments with the Alberta Centennial Education Savings Plan (ACES) or in Quebec, with the Quebec Education Savings Incentive (QESI).

Saskatchewan has recently announced their new education incentive, the Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings* (SAGES) which will launch in fall 2013; this grant is expected to assist over 83,000 children less than 18 years, who have already contributed to an RESP this year. The grant will be retroactive to January 1, 2013, but processing the grant will not be made available until after fall 2013.

SAGES will be deposited directly in the beneficiaries RESP at the rate of 10% of the subscriber's annual contribution, with an annual maximum of $250. The lifetime maximum per child is $4,500; an impressive incentive for parents with young children to open an RESP.

British Columbia's proposed grant; the BC Training Education and Savings Grant* will be providing eligible families $1,200 per child. Requirements state that the child must be a resident of BC, born on or after January 1, 2007 and must have an RESP. To qualify the RESP subscriber must complete the application once the child turns 6 years of age, and submit before the child turns 7. The official grant start date has not been confirmed, but the government has communicated that it will likely be in late 2014 or early 2015. Eligible families will receive notice to apply for the grant as soon as the administrative process is in place.

Heritage Education Funds, proudly a Canadian owned an operated company is consistently encouraging Canadian families to plan ahead for their children's university and college education. British Columbia and Saskatchewan residents are encouraged to open their RESP plans early to ensure they reap all the benefits of the newly proposed grants.

Heritage will continue to communicate any updates and processing dates for the proposed grants once the provincial governments have released their requirements.

About Heritage Education Funds Inc.

Heritage Education Funds Inc. is one of Canada's leading providers of fixed income RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans) and is the distributor of the Heritage and Impression Plans.  Heritage's objective is to encourage parents, grandparents and other interested adults to save for a child's post-secondary education through a planned education savings program.

This document and the information contained herein are provided solely for information purposes, and are not to be construed as a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in Canada or any other jurisdiction. No investment decision relating to securities of or relating to Heritage Education Funds Inc. or its affiliates should be made on the basis of this document.

No representation or warranty is made or implied concerning, and Heritage Education Funds Inc. assumes no responsibility for, the accuracy, completeness, reliability or comparability of the information contained herein relating to third parties, which is based solely on publicly available information. This document contains statements that constitute "forward looking statements." While these statements represent Heritage's judgements and expectations concerning the matters described, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from Heritage's expectations.

Heritage Education Funds Inc. specifically prohibits the redistribution or reproduction of this material in whole or in part without the prior written permission of Heritage Education Funds Inc., and Heritage Education Funds Inc. accepts no liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in this respect.

*Certain conditions apply; please refer to the Prospectus for full details.

© 2013 Heritage Education Funds Inc. Heritage Education Funds is the trade name of Heritage Education Funds Inc., Heritage Education Funds RESPs are offered by Prospectus only.

SOURCE: Heritage Education Funds Inc.

Media Inquires: 

Alexzandria Johnson 
Director, Marketing 
Heritage Education Funds 
Direct Phone: [phone] 
Email: [email protected]