Chilliwack financial advisor says parents are missing out on free govt. grants

Dating back to about five years ago, Brown stumbled upon a pamphlet at Watson Elementary that alluded to government grants available to parents. The information was so vague it seemed to invite more questions than answers, in Brown’s opinion.

“I started learning and realizing that you’ve never really had to contribute to this, but the pamphlet didn’t make it clear that you can get these grants for nothing,” said Brown, a financial advisor and father of three kids who is also working his way through the Chilliwack Fire Department’s academy to be an on-call firefighter. “What’s interesting is that you’ve never really had to contribute to get this money. It didn’t clearly state, however, that this is a free no-contribution grant.”

Brown, a university graduate who first went to Cariboo College before transferring to University of Toronto and graduating there, says his own life experiences motivated him to alert other parents about these free government grants.

“That’s why this is so near and dear to me,” Brown said. “I’m trying to help low-income families give their kids a reason to go to post secondary. It’s a foot in the door; it’s not going to buy an education. They might go to university and then see what happens. That’s what happened to me. I didn’t have any RESP money, but I found a reason to go to university.”

All that parents and guardians of eligible children have to do is fill out a brief two-page form called the B.C. Training and Educational Savings Grant (BCTESG) form. Simply Google “B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant.” It’s the first link that comes up.

Signing up is as easy as stopping in at a local bank or financial institution to complete a simple application for an RESP. Once approved, the $1,200 grant will be deposited directly into the RESP. This $1,200 grant is not income-dependent.

Parents and families who cannot afford to put aside savings can still start an RESP.

As of 2019, the B.C. government reported that almost 80 per cent of job openings in B.C. over the next decade will require some form of post-secondary education. The grant may be used toward full-time and part-time studies in a wide range of programs, including vocational schools, apprenticeships, trades training, college or university.

Back in 2019, the B.C. government said approximately 40 per cent of families leave this grant unclaimed. That may be due to the fact it’s only available over a three-year window when the child is six to eight years old.

Government grants are also available to Canadians with a disability, Brown says. He recently shared a story on his Facebook account about a family he met and assisted some five years ago. They seem better positioned financially today than 2018.

“I’ve been advocating for years about certain under-used/under-collected free government grants – namely education and savings grant money for kids and the disabled,” Brown said. “People who qualify just need to apply – and they often don’t because they just don’t know. I met a mother of three in 2018 and helped her collect education grants for all her kids and disability savings bonds for one. Fast forward to today, she now has $6,551 in federal and provincial education savings and $2,524 in disability savings. It has cost her $0 to get this. That’s a total of $9,075 in savings that she would not have received had I not helped her. I’m still baffled that the government (fed and provincial) offers grant money at no cost that still goes massively uncollected.”

For Canadian kids and adults through to the age of 49, the government will pay a bond of up to $1,000 a year for up to 20 years if income limits aren’t exceeded. Much like the RESP bonds, no contributions have to be made to get the disability savings bonds. The lifetime bond limit is $20,000. A bond can be paid into an RDSP until the year in which the beneficiary turns 49 years old. Families with an adjusted family net income of $32,028 or less receive the full yearly bond of $1,000.

On top of that, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) provides an additional incentive of up to $2,000 to help low-income families start saving early for their child’s education after high school (post-secondary education). The Canada Learning Bond (CLB) money will be deposited directly into the child’s RESP at no cost. The CLB is available for eligible children from low-income families born in 2004 or later and provides an initial payment of $500 for the first year the child is eligible, plus $100 for each additional year of eligibility, up to age 15, for a maximum of $2,000.

“Basically, there are tens of thousands of Canadians who qualify for these things, they cost nothing to collect, and many millions in funding gets left on the table for children and the disabled,” Brown said.

Chilliwack school board member Teri Westerby has been collaborating with Brown on promoting these grants. Westerby says not every parent is taking advantage of what’s available to them.

“Imagine if every student in Chilliwack had over $6,000 for post-secondary education for free by the time they graduated?” Westerby said. “This dream could easily become a reality with the B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant. Right now, every child in B.C. between the ages of 6 and 8 qualifies for a free education savings grant – but they are not taking advantage of it! The trouble is that the process to apply for these funds has been quite challenging – until now!”

Brown and Westerby plan to host an interactive financial grant information night at Chilliwack elementary schools for parents of students ages 6-8.

“With the above Government education grants, made available for free, parents could help their children have access to up to $6,000 for their post-secondary education,” Westerby said. “Imagine the barriers that could help eliminate?”

Westerby credited Brown for uncovering the low sign-up rates for these government grants.

“Thanks to Terry Brown, who discovered that these government grants had extremely low sign-up rates, he created a new and unique way to fulfill these grant applications with a simple three-step process,” Westerby said. “He is dedicating his time volunteering to help the community of Chilliwack access free Government funding for post-secondary education (in addition to POC firefighting!). Together with myself and United Way, we will be hosting interactive financial grant information nights with parents of students ages 6-8.”

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack financial advisor says parents are missing out on free govt. grants

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