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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

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Have tables take 5 minutes to introduce themselves, discuss the value of education to the areas they serve, and, as kids, what they wanted to be when they grew up. What do they hope to learn today?

Business Development Career Skills Financial Literacy

Momentum: A Community Economic Development Organization

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Has anyone here heard of Momentum? Momentum is a Community Economic Development organization in Calgary. We are a non profit agency that aims to works with folks who are underemployed or living on a low income. Momentum - 3 major departments. Today’s workshop StartSmart - Financial Literacy Department

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

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Momentum’s public policy program began in July of 2012 and includes two full-time and very good looking staff members. Since 2012 we have worked on a number of issues and conduct policy research on poverty and other topics that is being used by government to inform their policy and legislation.

What Why Who

StartSmart Program

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My job is to make sure that every parent in the Calgary area, especially lower-income families, know about the RESP and money for their kids schooling and how to get it. Why does SS exist, why does the government help parents pay for PSE: • 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). The more people that go to school in Canada can result in a highly skilled workforce, economic security for those individuals, and a healthier, wealthier Canada

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

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More community organizations have assisted with program promotions and planning

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

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CLB – must be getting the National Child Benefit Supplement, child born 2004 or later ACES – Child and parent must reside in Alberta, child born 2005 or later You don’t have to be born in Canada or Alberta to get this. You just have to be a resident here now. This can total $2500 in free money! Pretty good for one trip to the bank, right?

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

5

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The Additional 10-20% is for lower-income families That is all the free and matching money. Most of this money is retroactive, up to a certain point. So, if you have an older child, you might still get some money for the years prior.

Steps to Open an RESP 1. Documents:

Parent & child both need ID and Social Insurance Number (SIN)

2. Bank Appointment to open RESP

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Note: You need to file your income tax otherwise the government will not know how much money you earned and how much money to deposit into your account.

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%

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CLB uptake for municipalities around Alberta. Note this does not include all opened RESPs just those who qualify for CLB.

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?

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ACTIVITY IN GROUPS: Come up with 3 participant 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

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Some of the things done to address participant barriers: Of the 3,000 participants we have had in StartSmart workshops, the great majority have been through partnering organizations Very important for facilitators to be knowledgeable of other community services so appropriate referrals can be made for more pressing issues of poverty We have a list of preferred bankers – those we have had good experiences with in the past First language support can be offered through various immigrant serving agencies and financial institutions

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

http://www.momentum.org/startsmart�

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

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Advocacy can take time. Relationship building must happen first. Get to know those you want to lobby Letter writing is an effective tool. Don’t just send letters to elected officials. Civil servants are often a better point of contact. Managing change. Since our program began in 2012, there have been three Premiers and 4 ministers of Advanced Education. 3 ministers of Human Services. Very little change in the civil servants below the deputy minister level. Where possible involve program staff. Joe and Mike might know who to contact and the general message but program staff like Lora know the details and can fill in blanks in letters and meetings.

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

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Here is a quick case study of advocacy related to RESPs beyond preserving the ACES grant. Sometimes multiple ministries need to be contacted and ones you wouldn’t expect. The ACES grant is administered by Innovation and Advanced Education while promoting RESPs in schools would be the Education Ministry. Social Housing, however, is now run through the Ministry of Seniors. We had to develop new relationships in that Ministry and find the right conection for this topic. Social housing has limits on how much cash and assets you can have and still be eligible. The asset limit is $7000 including a vehicle and savings accounts. However, some assets, such as RRSPs are exempt up to a certain amount.

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

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We would like RESPs to be exempt to encourage poor families not to need to choose between education and 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

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?

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Sticky notes….taking one action to increase the CLB uptake in your community

Thank you! Joe Ceci – [email protected] Lora Pesant – [email protected] Mike Brown – [email protected] Website: www.momentum.org

mailto:[email protected]�



http://www.momentum.org/�