Canada Learning Bond: Who Qualifies and How to Claim It Retroactively
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published May 11, 2024 • Money & Budgeting, Canadian Universities & Colleges
The Canada Learning Bond pays up to $2,000 into an RESP for a child from a lower income family, with no personal contribution required. Claim it years late, all at once, any time before your child turns 21, but only if someone opens an RESP and applies.
💵 Up to $2,000 total per eligible child, no contribution needed from you
🎓 $500 the first year you qualify, then $100 a year for each additional eligible year up to age 15
📩 Eligibility depends on your family's net income and number of children
⏱️ Claim retroactively any time before your child's 21st birthday
🏠 Nothing happens automatically; an RESP and an application need to be on file
What the Canada Learning Bond pays
The Canada Learning Bond (CLB) adds government money to an RESP for children from lower income families, with no requirement to contribute personal money at all. The first year your child qualifies, the government pays $500 into the RESP. Every additional year your family stays eligible, up to and including the year your child turns 15, the government adds $100 more, up to a lifetime total of $2,000 per child.
Who qualifies
Eligibility depends on your adjusted family net income and the number of children in your family, using the same kind of income test behind the Canada Child Benefit. The exact income threshold changes with family size and gets updated regularly, so confirm your family's current eligibility directly with your RESP promoter or on your Government of Canada benefits account instead of relying on a figure from a past year.
Why families miss this money
The CLB is not automatic. Nobody applies on your behalf. Eligible families often miss it because no one opened an RESP for the child, or the family did not realize a personal contribution was never a requirement for the $500 start payment.
Claim it retroactively
Eligible now, and eligible in past years too, open an RESP and apply for the CLB before your child turns 21. The government pays out every year of retroactive eligibility at once, up to the $2,000 lifetime cap. There is no need to have opened the RESP back when your child was younger.
How to apply
Open an RESP with a participating promoter, such as a bank, credit union, or group plan provider
Provide your child's Social Insurance Number and your own
Ask the promoter to apply for the CLB specifically, since some promoters do not offer every provincial or federal grant by default
File an income tax return every year, since the CRA determines eligibility from the tax return, not a separate application form
No personal contribution required
Unlike the Canada Education Savings Grant, which matches your own contributions, the CLB pays out even without a single dollar of personal contribution. An eligible family opens a no-fee RESP, applies for the CLB, and receives the $500 start payment with zero contribution from the family.
Check current thresholds before assuming you don't qualify
Families sometimes assume their income is too high and skip applying. Since the income threshold rises with the number of children in the family, a larger family qualifies at a higher income level than a smaller one. Confirm the specific situation on the Government of Canada Canada Learning Bond page instead of assuming based on a single remembered income figure.