RESP - Payments - Education Assistance Payments

Limit on EAPs - For RESPs entered into after 1998, the maximum amount of EAPs that can be made to a student as soon as he or she qualifies to receive them is:

• For full-time studies - $5,000, for the first 13 consecutive weeks of full-time studies in a qualifying educational program. After the student has completed the 13 consecutives weeks, there is no limit on the amount of EAPs that can be paid if the student continues to qualify to receive them. If there is a 12-month period in which the student is not enrolled in a qualifying educational program for 13 consecutive weeks, the $5,000 maximum applies again; or
• For part-time studies - $2,500, for the 13-weeks period of enrollment in part-time studies in a specified educational program preceding the payment of an EAP.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the RESP, the promoter can supplement the $5,000 or $2,500 EAP by paying a portion of the contributions tax-free to the beneficiary.