Opinion: B.C.'s education savings grant offered families support where it matters most

Across the country, affordability remains an issue — and B.C. residents are most certainly feeling the pinch. B.C. is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive provinces in Canada, with the high cost of living driven by a handful of major expenses, including housing, groceries, transportation, and utilities.

According to Spergel’s 2026 Debt Load And Psychological Wellbeing Study (British Columbia), many B.C. residents say their income is simply not keeping up with the rising cost of living, causing them to fall behind on payments, including credit cards, rent, and utilities. This often leaves little to no room for residents to save money — including parents hoping to save for their children’s education.

The B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG) offered these parents support where it mattered the most: their children’s future. The grant provided a one-time $1,200 RESP contribution to B.C. residents between six and nine years, which would then grow tax-deferred until the child pursued post-secondary education. It also encouraged families to open an RESP account, learn about education savings, and begin saving early.

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Recent data shows that incentives such as the BCTESG, combined with early education savings support, can make a meaningful difference for families, with B.C. holding the second-highest take-up rate for the Canada Education Savings Grant in Canada, closely following Quebec.

However, the 2026 B.C. Budget revealed something unexpected: The grant is, unfortunately, being discontinued as of April 1, 2028, with the government citing low uptake and concerns about the benefits disproportionately reaching higher-income households as reasons for ending the program.

While the government has every right to review spending priorities and adjust them as needed, there are very few programs that encourage citizens to invest alongside the government for something as critical as post-secondary education. This grant was one of them.

These programs are not only great exposure for the government — allowing families to view them as a partner in saving for their child’s future — but they also create a healthier financial ecosystem in the province by encouraging long-term family financial planning, especially for low-income groups.

The government has yet to outline what’s next. Families who were counting on the BCTESG will no longer have access to this $1,200 contribution, a valuable tool that helped them begin saving in the first place.

This decision has left many B.C. residents wondering if the government considered the impact of phasing out this grant or explored alternatives to overcome its roadblocks.

If equity was the goal, measures to revamp the program through an income-based model, giving lower-income households more benefits than higher-income households could have been an option. Reducing knowledge gaps could have been another way to improve participation rather than eliminating the process altogether. For instance, setting up more awareness campaigns in schools and universities could have helped uptake.