RESPs and the education grant

The rules

• $50,000 lifetime contribution limit per beneficiary. Contributions are not deductible.
• Canada Education Savings Grant: 20% of contributions, to $500 a year and $7,200 for life. Grant room carries forward, so a catch-up year can attract $1,000.
• The grant stops after the year the child turns 17.
• Withdrawals of growth and grant — Educational Assistance Payments — are taxed to the student, who usually has little other income and tuition credits to offset it.

What the engine does

• Applies the 20% grant with both caps, and warns when the lifetime grant is exhausted or a contribution is trimmed to the $50,000 limit.
• Needs the child's birth year to know when grant eligibility ends; without one it warns rather than assuming an age.
• Treats EAPs as untaxed to the household, and says so — the tax lands on the student.

What it deliberately does not

The Canada Learning Bond and the additional CESG for lower-income families are not modelled: both are tested on family net income, which the plan never asks for. See benefits tested on family income.