Are You Missing The Boat Too?

I came across an interesting article in today's Chronicle Herald concerning how many parents in Nova Scotia don't make use of RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). Around 68.2 per cent, apparently.

That would be 68.2 per cent of Nova Scotia parents who not only lose out on a tax-free vehicle for saving money for their children's education but also potentially lose out on the Canada Education Savings Grant and Canada Learning Bond.

The savings grant could add as much as $9,200 from the federal government over the life of the plan.

"Effectively, you get $20 for every $100 you put into your savings program," Mr. Lewis said.

The federal government began offering the savings grant in 1998, "as an incentive to encourage more families to save," he said, while the Canada Learning Bond was introduced in 2005 as a supplement for families whose annual incomes fall below about $37,000.

"The government looked at the program and (decided) . . . that there’s value in engaging families in planning for a higher education, regardless of what your income is, from the time your kids are young," Mr. Lewis said.

The learning bond isn’t a matching grant, he said, but provides parents with $500 to start an RESP in the year their child is born, with $100 added each year until the bond tops out at $2,000. Children who are eligible for both grants could receive $9,200 from the federal government for their RESP.

Which got me to thinking about what percentage of Nova Scotia families with a disabled child might be losing out, too. Dollars to donuts (or perhaps books and meal plans, to say nothing of the cost of tuition), the disability community is highly over-represented in that 62.2 per cent. I fear too many of us are likely still caught in that "it's not for our child(ren)" mindset that intuitively tells us that a RESP would be a waste of money for a child with a disability.

But as we've discussed before, that's far from necessarily so. As it turns out, we purchased RESPs for both our children long before we were aware of their disabilities. But given the government grants (read free money added to the fund by the government), the guarantee that at least some, if not all, of our capital will be returned if our children do not go on to post-secondary education and the fact that most, if not all, of such funds are also transferable to another eligible child, I'm not too concerned.

And when I consider the advances that are being made in making post-secondary education more accessible to our children, be they challenged physically or mentally, I am actually quite hopeful that our daughters will be able to put those RESP funds to use to further their education.

So you might just want to take another look at those articles at Ken Pope's site concerning The Long Term Benefits of RESPs and Using Registered Education Savings Plans For a Child with Developmental Disabilities. After all, you wouldn't your child to be among those losing out, would you?

** A financial advisor, I will never be. So just as the advice on this blog can't be taken as 'legal advice', neither can it be taken as 'financial advice". It can, however, in good stead be taken as practical, common sense advice from one parent to another. That being said, however, do do your own research and meet with a financial advisor, if practical.

PAANS Partnership for Access Awareness Scholarships for Students with a Disability

Purpose: To assist Nova Scotians with a disability in their pursuit of post-secondary studies.

Awards - Eight scholarships in the amount of $1,000.00 each are available for the academic year beginning September 2008.

Conditions To be considered, scholarship candidates must:
· Be a person with a permanent disability. 'Permanent Disability' means a limitation that restricts the ability of a person to perform the activities necessary to participate in educational activities or in the labour force within the range considered normal. This limitation is expected to remain with the person for life.
· Be a permanent resident of Nova Scotia
· Be entering or continuing studies in a Canadian post-secondary institution that is recognized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
· Not be involved in the selection process or be a close family member of any scholarship selection committee member.

Criteria The applications of candidates meeting the above considerations will be forwarded to the selection committee. Applications are weighed on a number of factors including:
· Community involvement
· Extra-curricular activities
· Reaction to obstacles
· Academic performance
· Educational goals and direction

For more info and application form, click here

PAANS
A committee of the Nova Scotia League for Equal OpportunitiesSuite 1211, 5251 Duke St., Halifax, NS B3J 1P3 (P) 902- 424-6920 (F) 902- 444-3059Email: paans@eastlink.ca

What Good Is A RESP To Our Child?

I really need to dig into my black bag (don't ask; it's a perfectly legitimate and explainable reference but just don't ask) to get moving on some new topics but unfortunately work and personal commitments make that just not feasible at the moment.

But in the meantime, I offer you these little gems I dug up at Ken Pope's site today:

The Long-term Benefits of RESPs

and

Using Registered Education Savings Plans For a Child with Developmental Disabilities

That's right, RESPs for our children with disabilities.

These days, with more changes occurring both with RESPs themselves and in post-secondary education, RESPs are looking like much better investments for the disability community. In the above articles, Mr. Pope notes the government grants (that's free money added to the fund by the government) available and the guarantee that at least some, if not all, of your capital will be returned if your child does not go on to post-secondary education. In addition, most, if not all, such funds are also transferable to another eligible child. And you might just be pleasantly surprised (I know I was) to see the advances that are being made in making post-secondary education more accessible to our children, be they challenged physically or mentally.

For example, I have attended numerous disability workshops over the past couple of years where representatives of the Nova Scotia Community College and Acadia University have made presentations concerning their services for students with disabilities. In fact, I probably could and will, at some point, do a series of posts just on that subject.

But I was quite impressed to find that the NSSC, for example, offers both 'accommodations' (allowing a student to graduate with a regular diploma) and modified programs [similar to the idea of the Individualized Program Plans (IPPs) offered in the public school system] which would allow even some IPP students to attend Community College and 'graduate' with a 'list employment skills'.

We purchased a RESP for our oldest child before we knew she had any disabilities. And there's been times over the years that I've wondered in passing if we were just throwing our money away. But now, not only do I know that I can transfer those funds to my younger child, if need be, but I actually hope that the oldest might just be able to access some form of post-secondary education. Only time will tell if that hope is realistic. But either way, I'm glad now that we kept up with the RESP.

And if you're looking for more reading material on other disability-related topics, a list of other articles from Mr. Pope's site can be found here.