The County of Lambton started promoting the Canada Learning Bond in early 2020. Presentations were made to community groups, banks and financial advisers to educate and promote. Marketing materials were purchased to distribute at local events.
Then the pandemic struck.
When the pandemic started in March 2020 there were 18,714 eligible children in Lambton County and only 6,619 were enrolled in the Canada Learning Bond.
In June 2021 the number of eligible children increased to 19,469 with 7,075 who were registered.
This means that there are 12,394 eligible children were not registered for the CLB, leaving a potential $24,788,000 in post-secondary education funding on the table.
Even if children were eligible for only one year this would translate into $6,197,500 in missed opportunity for Lambton youth. That’s money that could be used to purchase books, offset tuition or pay for transportation.
In the first year of the pandemic, the number of Lambton youth who were eligible for the CLB increased by 980 children. At the same time, the number of youth that did register for the CLB also increased slightly by 1% (299 children + youth).
While the increase in the number of youth registered for the CLB is good news, there are still over 12,000 youth who are missing out on this opportunity.
Please share this information with your friends and family and see if we can increase the numbers of people taking advantage of this free money!
