StartSmart Unclaimed FREE Education Money &
what we can do about it
Joe Ceci, Public Policy Manager Lora Pesant, Financial Literacy Facilitator Mike Brown, Public Policy Coordinator November 13, 2014
Business Development Career Skills Financial Literacy
Momentum: A Community Economic Development Organization
Activity • In groups of four, share:
– Your name & where from – When you were young, what did you want
to be when you grew up? – What you hope to learn at this session
Public Policy Program • Momentum also runs an advocacy program that works with
government to bring about systems change in Calgary and Alberta. • Some issues we are currently working on?
• RESPs • Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy • Payday Lending • FCSS Provincial Funding • Canada Jobs Grant
What Why Who
StartSmart Program
StartSmart Program Rationale
• People who complete Post Secondary Education (PSE) earn higher median incomes than non-recipients of PSE (Statistics Canada, 2006).
• The most significant determinant of whether a child will pursue post secondary education is parental financial support (Dubois, 2002).
• Children with savings accounts in their names are six times
more likely to attend college rather than those without (Elliot & Beverly, 2010).
StartSmart Program • Started in 2008 • Workshops delivered at over 65 community
partner organizations • Over 3,500 StartSmart workshop participants • Over 1,200 RESPs opened by participants • RESP sign-up events • New: 24 Community Champions trained to
deliver RESP information in the community
What does education cost? • Post-secondary education is estimated to
cost $140,000 for children born in 2014. • According to BMO, parents expect to cover
almost half this cost. • 73% of parents are concerned they won’t be
able to afford the costs.
Common conditions: Contract Fees Penalties Restriction
Banks Group Plan Providers
3
Flexible savings Can be opened with $0 Family/Individual Plan
Free Government Money Canada Learning Bond Children born in 2004 or after Families who receive the National Child Benefit Supplement (family income of approximately $44,000 or less).
$500 – one time payment $100 each year until your child is 15
Alberta Centennial Education Savings Children born in 2005 or after Parents Living in Alberta
$500 – one time payment
4
Matching Money
Canada Education Savings Grant
20%
Additional Canada Education Savings
extra 10% or 20%
Alberta Centennial Education Savings
$100 at ages 8, 11, 14
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Steps to Open an RESP 1. Documents:
Parent & child both need ID and Social Insurance Number (SIN)
2. Bank Appointment to open RESP
CLB Uptake – Alberta (as of March 2014)
Municipality # of CLB Eligible # of CLB Bens Uptake (%) Airdrie 3,477 1,033 29.7% Calgary 69,700 26,348 37.8% Edmonton 61,354 18,249 31.1% Fort McMurray 3,940 901 22.8% Grande Prairie 5,215 1,068 20.5% Lethbridge 6,033 2,048 33.9% Medicine Hat 4,249 1,276 30.0% Red Deer 6,570 2,140 32.6% Sherwood Park 3,154 958 30.4% Spruce Grove 2,748 557 20.3%
CLB Average Uptake – All of Alberta (as of March 2014)
# of CLB Eligible # of CLB Bens Uptake (%) Alberta 258,809 74,045 28.6%
• Momentum has data for all Alberta postal codes current to March 2014. • Feel free to contact us for the numbers for your municipality, county, or
municipal district
Participant Barriers • What barriers could participants face in
opening RESPs and receiving the CLB? • How could you help alleviate those
barriers?
Addressing Barriers • Plain language work book • Individual Follow-Up • Partnership is key! • Child care services • Transportation subsidies • ID subsidy program • Bank Buddy volunteer program • One stop-shop events
Free Money Party!
Free Money Party cont’d
• Family friendly • Banks and Service Canada to attend an
event. • Removes the barrier of intimidating bank
atmosphere • Moves RESPs into the community • Child minding or children’s activities
Moving Forward – Building Community Capacity
• Education Savings Week (Nov 17-21, 2014) • Webcast www.momentum.org/startsmart • Facilitator Training • Financial Institution engagement • Training Tax Clinic Volunteers • School boards & health care centres
Developing Advocacy Strategies • ACES Grant
– Budget 2013: Government announced phasing out of the grant • Rationale: Program did not meet goals
of increased uptake by low income families.
– Momentum approached the government
and made case for ACES continuation
Developing Advocacy Strategies, Cont’d
• Relationship Building • Letter Writing • Managing Change
– Ministers change but civil servants do not
• Involving program staff as subject matter experts
Advocacy on RESPs • Social housing asset exemption
– To qualify for social housing, Albertans must have no more than $7000 in assets
– Assets must be liquidated to that level • RRSPs up to a certain amount are exempt
– RESPs are not exempt
Advocacy on RESPs • Momentum has been pushing for RESPs to
be an exempt asset – Families should not sacrifice a child’s
education for appropriate housing
School Board Advocacy • Momentum approached Calgary Board of
Education (CBE) & Calgary Catholic School Division (CCSD) – Idea is to partner and send info with students to
parents – Hold info sessions on parent teacher nights in
schools – CCSD sending 30,000 RESP info packets home
with K-6 students
Could Teachers be Education Savings Champions? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVkArqprDuw
Want to be a champion for RESPs and the CLB? • Momentum offers a facilitator training
program for StartSmart – Learn how to increase the uptake of
RESPs in your community – Momentum staff can travel to your
community to deliver training
Increasing Uptake • How are you going to work to increase
Canada Learning Bond uptake in your community?
Thank you! Joe Ceci – [email protected] Lora Pesant – [email protected] Mike Brown – [email protected] Website: www.momentum.org