Clarification on Alberta Centennial Education Savings Plan Grant (Alberta Grant) application form requirements

Purpose

The purpose of this Information Bulletin is to bring to your attention a number of the more frequently occurring errors being observed by Compliance Officers when reviewing Alberta Grant application forms.

Type of Grant

Common deficiencies in the completion of application forms for the ACES Plan Grant have been on the rise across the industry. For this reason, we wish to provide the Promoter Community with the following clarifications:

The appropriate type of grant being applied for should be checked-off on the application form. Only one grant may be applied for per application form. If you are applying for more than one grant in respect of a single Beneficiary, you must use a separate form for each grant requested.

Section B - Proof of Alberta Residency

In this section, Promoters are required to capture proof that the Beneficiary's parent or legal guardian was ordinarily resident in the province of Alberta at the relevant time. In the box labelled "Indicate type of identification/proof provided that demonstrates the parent or legal guardian meets the Alberta Residency Requirement", Promoters are required to note only the type of document that was used to prove residency. It is not necessary to provide the serial number of the document, nor any account number; nor is it a requirement to produce or retain photocopies or digital images of these proofs.

For example, if an Alberta Health Card or Driver's Licence was used to prove residency, Promoters would be required to write only "Health Card" or "Driver' Licence" in this field, without providing the serial number of the document. If a utility invoice was used as proof of residency, the Promoter would be required to write only "utility invoice" in this field, without providing the account number.

It has been an increasingly common practice for Promoters to leave this part of the application form blank, and attach a photocopy of the proof of residency to the application form. We wish to advise that, while Promoters may choose to photocopy and retain such documentation, they are still required to complete this part of the application form, in the manner explained above, or the application form will be considered incomplete if called into question in the course of a compliance review.

Section C - Additional Criteria for $100 Grants

If applying for the 8, 11 or 14-year grant, the name and location of the school in which the Beneficiary was enrolled at the relevant time must be disclosed in this area. The Subscriber must attest that at least $100 has been contributed into the respective Beneficiary's RESP within the preceding 12 months, by checking-off the corresponding box under this section.

Section D - Authorization

In this section, signatures are required in two different areas: once for the authorization to apply for the Alberta Grant, and once to authorize collection, use and disclosure of the Subscriber's and Beneficiary's personal information. Both signatures are required for the form to be considered complete. Please note that if the Beneficiary's custodial parent is different from the parent, legal guardian or Subscriber whose Alberta residency was attested to, the signature of this custodial parent (or Subscriber) is also required for the collection, use and disclosure of the personal information.

Alteration of the ACES Application Form (Misrepresentation)

Several Promoters have recently modified the Alberta application form by causing their own corporate identities and trademarks to print directly on the upper, right-hand corner of the form. Other Promoters have recently re-published their own versions of the application form showing altered "form revision dates" in the lower, left-hand corner. We ask that all Promoters re-familiarise themselves with paragraph 2.1 (a) (Forms and Documents) of The Agreement Between HRSDC and Promoters for the Delivery of the Alberta Centennial Education Savings Plan Grant, which obligates Promoters to use and comply with the Alberta application form, as approved by the Minister.

Promoters are not permitted to allude to or imply any "partnership" with the province of Alberta, by causing their own corporate identities to appear in printed form anywhere on the application form. We also wish to remind Promoters that the Alberta Grant application form is the exclusive intellectual property of Her Majesty the Queen in right of Alberta, and may not be modified or re-published, other than in its original form, without Alberta's written consent.

Contact Us

Questions on this Information Bulletin should be directed to the CESP by e-mail at cesp-pcee@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca or by calling 1-888-276-3624.