Halifax 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Canada Emergency Student Benefit application process will open on Friday, May 15. The CESB, which will be delivered by the Canada Revene Agency (CRA), will provide temporary income support to eligible post-secondary students and new graduates who are unable to work or find work this summer due to COVID-19, or are working and are not making over $1000.
What is Canada Emergency Student Benefit
- Canada Emergency Student Benefit will give students $1250 a month from May to August.
- If you are taking care of somebody else or have a disability the amount will rise to $2000 each month.
- CESB is available for four months from May 2020 to August 2020 but students will be able to retroactively apply for this benefit until September 30, 2020.
- The benefit will start on May 1 for those postsecondary students who are going to school in September including those who are currently enrolled, or if you have graduated in December 2019.
- Students with a job, but earning less than $1,000 a month can apply.
- It will be delivered through the Canada Revenue Agency.
- Students will receive a T4A that includes the CESB they received to use for filing their 2020 income tax returns.
Who is Eligible for Canada Emergency Student Benefit
There are no age restrictions for who is eligible for the CESB.
International students, temporary workers who have a SIN beginning with “9”, and non-resident students with international tax numbers are not eligible for the CESB.
Who are Eligible Students:
- Students, including those studying abroad, are eligible for the CESB if they are Canadian citizens, including dual citizens, a registered Indian under the Indian Act, a permanent resident or a protected person.
- Eligible students include Students enrolled in a post-secondary education program. Failure to meet any of the three criteria listed below would make a person ineligible. The CESB will be available to both part-time and full-time post-secondary students, as well as summer students.
- Taken at post-secondary level (means education at a university or college level, including education of a technical or vocational nature and vocational training at the secondary level in Quebec)
- A series of courses that last at least 12 weeks and lead to a degree, diploma, or certificate
- At a listed institution (from the Government of Canada’s Master List of Designated Educational Institutions or the Master List of Certified Educational Institutions, or Quebec’s Répertoire des Établissements d’enseignement et des Programmes d’études; or an Indigenous Institution recognized by a province or territory).
- Students who have graduated from or left their post-secondary studies no earlier than December 2019
- Students who have completed, or will complete, high school in 2020 and have applied for a post-secondary educational program that begins before February 1, 2021
- High school students who complete, or expect to complete their studies between June 7 and December 31, 2020, and have applied for post-secondary studies and are intending to pursue it, are eligible to receive two months of the CESB (July and August).
- Those who complete high school before June 7, 2020 are eligible to apply for the period that starts after their graduation. For example, if a student graduates on May 30, 2020, they can apply for three periods of the CESB (June to August). This also applies to students receiving their high school equivalency.
- High school students who have left their studies without graduating are not eligible. Only high school students who graduate in 2020 and who have applied to a post-secondary educational program beginning before February 1st, 2021 are eligible to apply.
Students enrolled in CEGEP, and students who graduated from their CEGEP program no earlier than December 2019, can also apply for the CESB.
CESB & CERB
- Students are not eligible for CESB if they are receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or Employment Insurance benefits for the same four-week period as their current application.
WAGES UPTO $1000
- Students working full-time or part-time can earn up to $1,000 (before taxes) during the four-week period for which they are applying for CESB.
- The $1,000 includes: employment/self-employment income, taxable benefits and allowances provided by an employer, tips a student may earn while working, non-eligible dividends, honoraria (e.g., nominal amounts paid to emergency service volunteers) and royalties (e.g., paid to artists).
- The $1,000 limit does not include pensions, student grants and loans, scholarships, bursaries, graduate stipends, family, common-law, and spousal income, graduate stipends and bursaries, educational funding for indigenous students through the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP).
- Canadians in apprenticeship programs who meet the eligibility criteria (currently enrolled in a PSE program) would also qualify for the CESB so long as they do not qualify for, or are in receipt of, the CERB, and do not earn more than $1,000 (before taxes) per month.
Eligibility (and reapplying) Periods of CESB
Eligible students must reapply for the CESB for each four-week period and must meet the eligibility criteria each time.
— Eligibility periods for post-secondary students:
- May 10 to June 6, 2020
- June 7 to July 4, 2020
- July 5 to August 1, 2020
- August 2 to August 29, 2020
— Eligibility periods for Graduating high school students who are graduating between January 1 and May 9, 2020
- May 10 to June 6, 2020
- June 7 to July 4, 2020
- July 5 to August 1, 2020
- August 2 to August 29, 2020
— Eligibility periods for Graduating high school students who are graduating between May 10 and June 6, 2020
- June 7 to July 4, 2020
- July 5 to August 1, 2020
- August 2 to August 29, 2020
— Eligibility periods for Graduating high school students who are graduating between June 7 and December 31, 2020
- July 5 to August 1, 2020
- August 2 to August 29, 2020
How to Apply For Canada Emergency Student Benefit
Students do not need to provide documents as part of their CESB application but they should have documents readily available if they are requested.
- Create a profile with the CRA by calling 1-800-959-8281 (for students who have never filed a tax return)
- Register for a CRA My Account
- Enroll in Direct Deposit to have CESB payments deposited directly into their bank accounts.
If you are able to work, you must be actively looking for a job to be eligible to receive the CESB. If you still cannot find work due to COVID-19, you can re-apply for each CESB eligibility period that you are eligible for.
When applying, students must attest that they are unable to work or seeking work but are unable to find it or working but unable to make more than $1,000 (before taxes) over the four-week period for which they are applying due to COVID-19. Since individuals can only receive this benefit during a four-week period, students cannot receive the CESB if they are receiving the CERB or EI for any part of the same four-week period.
- A student with a disability must attest to having an impairment, such as a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment, or a functional limitation—whether permanent or episodic in nature, or evident or not—that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society.
- A student with a dependent must attest that they are supporting a dependent to receive the top-up amount. A student with a dependent is someone who has at least one child (including an adopted child, a stepchild, or a foster child) under the age of 12, or a person with disability who is wholly dependent on them or their spouse/common-law partner.
Eligible students must reapply for the CESB for each four-week period and must meet the eligibility criteria each time.
All applications for this benefit must be submitted before September 30, 2020.
Phone Number for Applying CESB through telephone:
You will need your your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and postal code.
- Phone: 1-800-959-2019 or 1-800-959-2041 and Press ‘2’ to apply for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).
- Monday to Sunday: 6 am to 3 am (Eastern time)
