I don't know about you, but soon after my daughter was born, I was flooded with calls from group RESP providers. It all started off with, "Are you aware of the government grants your child is entitled to?" or something along those lines. It soon became very annoying, as these sales people continued to call and try to sign us up for their plans (can you say "Commission please"?)

Anyway, I found this fantastic resource on RESP information and the author has just published a book about RESPs. There are competitions to win the book on some of my favourite blogs - enter here, here or here.

In the end, we have decided to do a self-directed RESP, as we are not fans of being locked in to a group RESP's rules and fixed terms. Any monetary gifts on birthdays, holidays, etc will be put in the RESP and any money we can spare at year-end will also be added (We'll contribute to our RRSP's first).

I know some parents may believe their children should pay for their own education - however, I know I sure appreciated my parents helping me out with my tertiary education, so that I did not have to start working life with huge debt.

I started an RESP for my son about 4 months after he was born. I don't have much, but I wanted to start saving for his education anyway. I'm putting $50/mth into it now, and when I finish school and get a full time job I intend to contribute even more. I have a goal set in mind, but I don't know if I will be able to reach it. While I believe that as parents, we need to teach our children to be independent and provide for themselves, I also know from personal experience that OSAP expects students AND their parents to put away money in savings for school (on the application you must list your parents' combined income to determine how much they will give you) and they don't care what the parents believe about saving (or not saving) for their kids' education. I don't want my son to be discouraged about going to college or university simply because the money isn't available to him. Which is why I am saving now.

I was inundated with these annoying phone calls as well which really ticked me off because here I am at home trying to get used to a baby and these people kept calling me non-stop.

Well my MIL opened a youth account for him pretty much the week after he was born because his SIN card came that week after and I opened an RESP. Being on mat  leave I can only afford $50 a month but once I start working again I will increase it.

I wish my parents had done something like this for me when I was growing up but being from the islands, that wasn't something you did back then. Now-a-days its more common. I want to make sure my son is financially independent and have a respect for money and the know how I lacked.

I remember going to college and within the first week I signed up for two credit cards and went buk wild. I wish someone had taught me how to manage my money back then and how to properly pay back the cards and the biggest lesson of all....It's not free money...it's credit!!!! LOL

FYI Ellen Roseman (Personal Finance columnist for the Toronto Star) wrote last week about the issues and penalties with cancelling a pooled/ scholarship RESP plan, and about how the Canadian Securities Administrators is seeking improved disclosure of scholarship plan terms, given in language that everyone can understand.