Vancouver Island University wants parents of more than 6,000 children in the Regional District of Nanaimo to know about the free money from the government for post-secondary education.
To help build awareness and get families signed up for the grants, VIU and Bright Futures/Thuyshenum, a Leadership Vancouver Island team, are hosting a free event Saturday (May 13).
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Maffeo Sutton Park, families from Parksville to Ladysmith are invited to enjoy music from The Kerplunks, hot dogs, face painting, photo booth, bouncy castles and more. Rolanda Murray, VIU’s Canada Learning Bond coordinator, will be on-site to talk to parents about the Canada Learning Bond and other government grants, through which families can access up to $3,200 in federal and provincial grant money per child to put in a Registered Education Savings Plan. All grants can be accessed for free and don’t require any parental contribution.
“Having this money in the bank can make a huge difference in a child’s life – children living in low-income families who have as little as $500 saved towards their education after high school are more than four times more likely to enroll in a post-secondary program,” Murray said.
VIU has been actively promoting the Canada Learning Bond and other education grant programs in the community since 2013. Leadership Vancouver Island, a community-focused leadership development program, requires participants to form teams and work on a project to help a community group. The Bright Futures team chose to work with Murray to organize a large community event for families to promote the grants.
The Royal Bank of Canada will be available to help its customers sign up for the grants. Murray and the team from Leadership Vancouver Island will help other families take the first steps toward signing up their children. Interested families should bring Social Insurance Numbers for both themselves and their children.
The Canada Learning Bond is a federal grant that helps low-income families start saving for their children’s post-secondary education by contributing $500 into each eligible child’s Registered Education Savings Plans when they sign up, plus an additional $100 each year after that up to a maximum of $2,000. The B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant is a one-time grant of $1,200 to all eligible BC children born in 2006 or later.
For more info, please visit VIU’s Canada Learning Bond homepage.