Saving for future education costs and ensuring their children are provided with opportunities to receive a post-secondary education are strong priorities among new parents throughout Canada, according to a survey conducted for USC Education Savings Plans Inc.

The survey of more than 1,600 parents nationwide looked at attitudes and awareness of parents of young children aged 5 and under regarding the importance of having their kids attend or have access to post-secondary institutions such as colleges and universities, the rising costs of education, and how they plan to make their children’s dreams a reality.

“The study findings show that most parents want the same things for their children — access to a good education and the opportunity to pursue their interests and passions,” said Michael Geraghty, president & CEO of USCI, a provider of group education savings plans. “One of the common barriers we found to accessing higher education was concern over the financial burden of rising tuition costs, which is why parents are realizing that planning and saving for future needs should start as early as possible.”

The study found that nearly all parents surveyed (96%) felt it was extremely important for their children to be able to attend a post-secondary institution and over 80% were concerned about the financial burden of the tuition costs. Additionally, almost all (95%) agreed they would likely provide financial assistance for their children when that time comes.

While commitment to early financial planning varied across the country, almost half of the parents surveyed (48%) indicated they plan to purchase an RESP or other type of savings plan to help finance their children’s post-secondary education and four in 10 (43%) have already established an RESP. Propensity to own an RESP is highest in Alberta (68%), followed by Ontario (49%), British Columbia (48%), Quebec (36%), Atlantic Canada (37%) and is lowest in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (35%).

Most parents who chose to set up an RESP did so to directly benefit their children’s future education and to help them with costs (35% and 26%, respectively). However, only a quarter (23%) of parents surveyed recognized that government incentives such as the Canada Education Savings Grant program and the Canadian Learning Bond provide an additional benefit for early education planning. These programs, available to children from a young age, see the federal government contributing specific amounts to a child’s existing RESP over the course of a set number of years.

Of those parents who had not yet started saving for their children’s education, over one third (33%) said the top reason for not having an RESP was they couldn’t afford it.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of USC Education Savings Plans Inc., fielded from October 5th to October 10th 2006. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1635 parents of children age 5 and under were interviewed via an on-line panel survey. These responses were weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.