University Costs An Update

Back in the early days of my oldest daughter going to University. This university cost update was just another hint at what might be ahead. This was before I realized what a great investment I was making.

As a nice early birthday present for my daughter she has been accepted (early) at her #1 and #2 University choices. She is very proud of this, as am I, but now comes the interesting questions about how is this all going to get paid for?

Every University that she has applied to has asked very specific questions about my income, to see whether she qualifies for any kind of financial assistance. When I say specific, they ask for actual values from specific lines in my income tax return, which is about as specific as it gets. Never looked closely to see what rules all this information was being held under, and how safe it all might be, maybe I’ll check into that.

Her #1 choice has already offered her a small first year scholarship, which may grow, simply due to her good grades (and if her final grades are higher, an even higher amount might be available). This is nice to see, and they also sent a preliminary budget of what they think the costs for first year might be (gulp), so that needs to be looked into as well. We also need to investigate what other possible scholarships or bursary programs might be available.

The most interesting thing I need to check into now, is what to do about her RESP. I know that once I start drawing on it, the CESG stops coming in, if I put more money in, but what if she is at school and I don’t draw from it? This question vexes me still, and I must investigate further.

Next Steps?

More financial scrutiny and diligence is needed in this area (and any helpful comments or suggestions would be great from my readership as well). I will keep you all posted, as I suspect I am going to make a few interesting mistakes that others might benefit from learning about.