Provincial RESP Grants: What's Available Beyond the CESG

RESP Basics: How Registered Education Savings Plans Work in Canada and How the CESG Boosts Your RESP cover the federal side of RESP grants in full.

This guide goes beyond the federal CESG to what a few provinces add on top — and, just as importantly, what's no longer available, since provincial programs change more often than the federal ones do.

Provincial grants stack — they don't replace the CESG

A family eligible for a provincial RESP grant isn't choosing between it and the federal CESG — this is worth stating plainly before anything else. These are separate programs, run by different levels of government, and an eligible family generally receives both. A BC family isn't trading the CESG for the BC grant, and a Quebec family isn't trading the CESG for the QESI — qualifying for one doesn't reduce or replace eligibility for the other.

The BC Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG)

British Columbia's provincial RESP grant is a genuinely simple program once the eligibility window is understood correctly.

• Amount: a one-time $1,200 grant per eligible child.
• No matching contribution required. Unlike the CESG, which matches money actually contributed, the BCTESG doesn't require the family to contribute anything to receive it — it's paid based on eligibility alone.
• Eligibility: the child needs to be a BC resident, with a parent or guardian who is also a BC resident, both the child and that parent or guardian need a valid Social Insurance Number, and the child needs to be born in 2006 or later (an evergreen condition, not a fixed one-time cutoff).
• The application window: this is the detail families most often get wrong. The grant can be requested starting on the child's 6th birthday, and the deadline to apply is the day before the child's 9th birthday. Missing this three-year window means the grant is gone — there's no catch-up mechanism the way there is with unused Basic CESG room.

Because it doesn't require a contribution, a family can request the BCTESG even in a year they aren't otherwise contributing to the RESP — but they still need to have an RESP open with a participating promoter before applying, and the application still needs to happen inside that narrow three-year window.

The Quebec Education Savings Incentive (QESI)

Quebec's program is structured much more like the CESG itself — a matching grant tied to actual contributions, rather than a one-time flat amount.

• Basic rate: matches 10% of annual RESP contributions, up to $250 a year.
• Additional QESI: lower- and middle-income families can receive an extra 5% to 10% on the first $500 contributed each year, on top of the basic 10% — a very similar structure to the federal Additional CESG, just at different rates.
• Lifetime maximum: $3,600 per child, regardless of how many RESPs the child is a beneficiary of.
• Eligibility: the child needs a valid Social Insurance Number, needs to be a Quebec resident on December 31 of the relevant tax year, needs to be under 18 (with a similar 16/17 catch-up condition to the CESG's age rule), and needs to be a named beneficiary of the RESP the QESI is being claimed for.

Combined with the federal CESG's 20% match, an eligible Quebec family can see up to 30% in combined matching on qualifying contributions — up to $750 a year in total federal-plus-provincial grant money on the same $2,500 of contributions that attract the maximum Basic CESG.

Saskatchewan: currently discontinued, not currently available

This is the one that trips people up most, because older information about it is still widely circulated online. The Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) was a real provincial program — but it was suspended for new contributions starting January 1, 2018, and fully wound down by September 1, 2023, when any SAGES amounts still sitting in RESPs were converted into regular accumulated income rather than remaining a distinct grant category.

Provincial grants aren't always automatic — confirm with the provider

The CESG is requested automatically by an RESP promoter once a qualifying contribution is made — no separate application from the subscriber. Provincial grants don't always work the same way in practice: not every RESP promoter is set up to process every provincial grant. A family that assumes their provincial grant is being claimed automatically, the way the CESG is, can go years without realizing it was never actually applied for. Confirming directly with the RESP provider — specifically asking whether they process the BCTESG or QESI, not just assuming a "yes" because they handle RESPs generally — is worth doing before assuming any provincial grant is being captured.

A BC family confirming their grants

The Larkins opened an RESP for their daughter shortly after she turned 6, contributing $2,500 in that first year. They'd read that BC families could get "an extra RESP grant" and assumed, incorrectly, that receiving the BCTESG would mean somehow qualifying for less CESG — so they nearly held off on requesting it, worried about giving up their existing grant.

Contacting their RESP provider directly cleared this up: the BCTESG and CESG are entirely separate programs, and the provider confirmed they were already set up to process both. The Larkins requested the BCTESG that same visit, well within the window between their daughter's 6th and 9th birthdays, and received both the $500 Basic CESG on their contribution and the full $1,200 one-time BCTESG — with neither grant affecting the other.

Common mistakes

• Assuming provincial and federal grants are mutually exclusive. They aren't — an eligible family generally receives both, not one instead of the other.
• Not confirming with the RESP provider that provincial grants are actually being claimed. Unlike the CESG, provincial grant processing isn't guaranteed just because a promoter handles RESPs generally.
• Assuming a discontinued program is still active. Saskatchewan's SAGES program is a clear example — older sources describing it as currently available are out of date.
• Missing the BCTESG's narrow application window. There's no catch-up mechanism if the request isn't made between the child's 6th and 9th birthday, unlike unused Basic CESG room.
• Assuming a family outside BC or Quebec automatically has no provincial option. Provincial programs can change — it's worth checking current availability for a specific province directly rather than assuming permanently based on past information.

Sources

• British Columbia Training and Education Savings Grant — Government of British Columbia
• Notice #668: Change to the BCTESG eligibility criteria — Employment and Social Development Canada
• Québec Education Savings Incentive — Revenu Québec
• Eligibility Requirements — Québec Education Savings Incentive — Revenu Québec
• Notice #966: Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) cancellation — Employment and Social Development Canada
• InfoCapsule: Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings — Employment and Social Development Canada

This article is general financial education, not personalized financial or tax advice. Provincial RESP grant availability, amounts, and eligibility rules change over time and by province — confirm the current status directly with the RESP promoter, the relevant provincial government, or a financial professional before assuming a program is or isn't available.

What to do next

For a family in BC or Quebec, confirming directly with the RESP provider that both the federal and provincial grant are actually being requested is the single most useful next step — provincial grants aren't always automatic the way the CESG is. For the federal grant these stack on top of, see How the CESG Boosts Your RESP. For the fundamentals of how RESPs work, see RESP Basics: How Registered Education Savings Plans Work in Canada. This is the twelfth guide in an ongoing RESP series.