Saving for your child’s education:Why parents need to bridge the gap

1 in 3 (33%) parents in BC are not setting anything aside for college/university.

$32,575 The cost of a 4 year Bachelor of Arts degree at UBC when student fees and books are factored in.¹

¹ http://you.ubc.ca/financial-planning/cost/

60/40 The % split between BC parents who can correctly identify the cost of a 4 year B.A. at UBC and those who think it’s much less.

Did you knowyou can claim as much as $8,400 in government grants* to help you save for your child’s post-secondary education?

*The Canada Education Savings Grant matches 20% of the first $2,500 you contribute to your child’s RESP each year up to a lifetime maximum of $7,200.BC Training and Education Savings Grant is a one-time $1,200 grant for eligible BC resident children born on or after January 1st 2006 available on or after their sixth birthday. Conditions apply.

Almost half (47%) of BC parents say they are aware of all the grants offered with an RESP.

Only half (48%) of BC parents are saving or plan to invest in an RESP.

The ways BC parents fund their child’s education.48 % in an RESP11% in a TFSA6% student loans3% line of credit

1 in 3parents either aren’t, can’t or won’t put anything aside for their child’s post-secondary education.

4 in 5parents expect their child to attend some form of post-secondary education.

A majority of parents (68%) believe they should be paying for their child’s post-secondary education.

Financial hardships are anticipated:6 in 10 parents will or have encouraged their kids to go to school close to home.4 in 10 will need to borrow money or go into debt to help their child.1 in 3 will need to dip into retirement funds or delay retirement because their child will have too much debt.

7 in 10parents believe their child should help pay for some of his/her university/college costs.

About the surveyThese are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 29 and September 2, 2016, on behalf of the C.S.T. Consultants Inc. For this survey, a sample of 395 parents in British Columbia from Ipsos' online panel were interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 5.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all parents in BC been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.