Canada Learning Bond (CLB)

Free money, no contribution required

The CLB pays $500 for the first year a child qualifies, then $100 for every additional qualifying year until the year the child turns 15, up to a lifetime maximum of $2,000 (as of July 2026). Unlike the CESG, which matches what you put in, the bond asks for nothing. The only requirement is that an RESP exists in the child's name.

Once the plan is open, the government checks eligibility every year on its own and deposits whatever the child qualifies for. There is nothing to renew and nothing to remember.

Who qualifies

The CLB is for children born in 2004 or later in lower-income families. Eligibility depends on adjusted family net income and the number of children: roughly speaking, families with up to three children qualify below the low-fifties of thousands of dollars, and the threshold rises with each additional child (as of July 2026). The exact table changes every year, so check canada.ca for the current figures.

Eligibility is assessed year by year from the tax returns you file. A family can qualify in some years and not in others, and every qualifying year adds to the bond. The same families typically qualify for the Additional CESG too, so a single no-fee RESP can collect both.

Fully retroactive: open late, collect everything

Missed years are never lost. Opening an RESP at any age triggers a lump-sum deposit of every past eligible year at once: the $500 first-year amount plus $100 for each qualifying year since. A family that opens a plan when their child is 12 does not get a reduced bond; they get everything the child was ever entitled to, in one deposit.

Adults 18 to 20 can claim their own CLB

Here is the part almost nobody knows. If you were born in 2004 or later and your family qualified while you were growing up, but no one ever opened an RESP, you can open one for yourself between your 18th birthday and the day before your 21st, and claim every missed year, up to the full $2,000. No contribution, no parental involvement, no cost at a no-fee provider.

For a student or apprentice already enrolled, that money can be withdrawn to pay for the program they are in right now. If this describes you or someone you know, the deadline is real: after the 21st birthday, the entitlement expires for good.

The uptake gap

A large share of eligible children, by government estimates well over a third, never receive the CLB, almost always because no RESP was ever opened. The barrier is awareness, not cost: many providers offer no-fee, no-minimum accounts, and the application is a single form. If a tight budget has kept your family from saving for school, the bond flips the logic on its head. This money exists precisely for families who cannot spare a dollar, and it only requires opening the account.