Ages 16–18

Paying for school without wrecking the next decade

Tuition is the small number. Build the true four-year cost first, then fill it from the cheapest money to the most expensive, in that order.

About 30 minutes Read it themselves Earns The Four-Year Badge

The Quest

For the kid

Families plan around tuition, and tuition is often less than half the real cost.

The true four-year cost

Line	What to look up
Tuition	The specific program, not the school's average — engineering and arts differ
Compulsory fees	Student union, athletics, health plan, technology. Published separately
Books and materials	Studio and lab programs cost more here
Housing	Home, residence or a shared flat. Swings the total more than the choice of school
Food, transport, phone	Twelve months of living, not eight
Travel home	Trips per year, honestly

Total per year, times the years.

Fill it in this order — cheapest money first

Money you do not repay. Scholarships, grants, bursaries. Entrance awards are often automatic on grades; bursaries need an application.
The RESP. Yours already, grown tax-sheltered, topped up by government grant.
Your own earnings. Summers and part-time during term.
Government student loans and grants, through your province. Often include a non-repayable grant portion. Federal interest treatment is set by legislation and has changed — read the current official pages, not an older sibling's experience.
Anything else, last. A bank student line of credit is a commercial loan on commercial terms.

Your mission

Price two options — your first choice away from home, and the closest comparable program living at home. You may still choose the expensive one. Choose it knowing the number.

The Parent Playbook

For you — read before you start

Two things: getting the RESP out correctly, and having the contribution conversation early.

Getting the RESP out without an avoidable tax bill

Bucket	What it holds	Tax treatment
Educational Assistance Payment (EAP)	Government grants plus all growth	Taxable in the student's hands, on a T4A. Usually small or nothing at student income
Refund of contributions	What the family put in	Tax free, income to nobody

The cap to know: EAP is limited to $8,000 in the first 13 consecutive weeks of a qualifying program. After that there is no limit while the student stays eligible, and the cap resets after a 12-month break in enrolment.

In a year the student earns unusually well, take more as a refund of contributions and less as EAP. Agree the split with the provider before the first withdrawal.

What to say

"Here is the four-year total. Here is what the RESP covers, and what I can add each year. The gap is what you work towards, apply for, or close by choosing differently."

If you can contribute little:

"I can't close that gap, and I am telling you now so you can plan around it. What I can do is keep you housed and fed if you study close to home, and help you find every bursary you qualify for."

Mistake to avoid

Do not skip the bursary and scholarship applications. The cheapest money on the list and the most commonly missed, because the paperwork falls in grade twelve. Block time for it like an exam.

Do not treat a student line of credit as equivalent to a student loan. Different products, different terms.

Do not let the first RESP withdrawal happen without a call to the provider. The 13-week EAP cap is easy to trip over once, at the worst moment.

Do It Together

The 30-minute activity

The family contribution conversation 20 minutes · a spreadsheet, real published fees for two specific programs, the RESP balance

Build both sheets — first-choice program, then the comparable one living at home, changing only housing and travel. Let them look up the published figures.
Put the totals side by side and let the difference sit there.
Layer in the funding in order. Awards, RESP, earnings, government aid, commercial last. Have them write the order out.
Name the gap in dollars and split it: what they cover, what you cover, what is unsolved.
Book the bursary afternoon — an actual date for finding and filing applications.

Done? Tick the level. One left — the first investment, explained slowly.

Done with level 05?

Fills in one leaf on the Makers map and earns The Four-Year Badge. Kept in this browser only — nothing about your child is sent anywhere.

Financial education, not advice. It describes how Canadian accounts and programs work and recommends no product, provider or investment. Dollar figures are statutory.