Tough to imagine someone noticing a $100 bill on the street and not bothering to pick it up -- but that's what Manitobans are doing, so to speak.
Parents are failing to take advantage of a pair of federal government programs designed to help them save for their children's post-secondary education.
Manitoba ranks near the bottom in terms of participation in the Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond, according to statistics compiled by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC).
The CESG, worth a maximum of $400 annually on a $2,000 contribution -- a 20 per cent return -- was accessed by just 27.9 per cent of eligible families in Manitoba, below the national average of 36.0 per cent.
Participation was equally poor with the Canada Learning Bond, which provides a one-time payment of $500 to children in households with less than $37,000 annual income, plus $100 a year until the child is 15, provided they receive the National Child Benefit Supplement. In Manitoba, only 2,095 of the 33,964 eligible children took advantage of the CLB, a rate of just 6.8 per cent, well below the 11.8 per cent national average.
"Clearly an opportunity is being lost to engage the families in the province in the process of planning for higher education from the time their kids are young," said Peter Lewis, vice-president at the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation, the largest provider of Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) in Canada.
"There is money on the table for Manitoba families to save and they're not doing that."
He said information campaigns are needed to boost awareness of the two programs and improve the likelihood of today's children becoming tomorrow's post-secondary graduates. He said the money saved isn't restricted to university or college degrees but also extends to vocational schools and apprenticeship and trade programs.
"Tuition continues to go up and it's important for families to recognize the importance of education is going up. More and more jobs demand some form of post-secondary education," he said. "It's easy with a young child to put (saving) off to a future date but 18 years can go by pretty quickly. Families need to start saving as quickly as they can."
Lewis said the low adoption of the CLB is particularly disconcerting considering it doesn't require any personal contributions to trigger federal matching. He attributed part of the apparent apathy to the fact that many low-income families do not have financial advisors and thus don't receive regular updates on new or important products.
"It's truly free money from the government of Canada. All you have to do is open up an RESP," he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
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