The Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) provides emergency financial relief to students and recent graduates who are unable to work, or unable to find work, due to reasons related to COVID-19. It is also available for those who are working but not making more than $1,000 (before taxes) over the four-week period for which they are applying.
Eligible students can receive $1,250 per month, plus an additional $750 per month if they have dependents or a disability for a maximum of $2,000 per month. Students are only eligible to receive one top-up of $750 per month.
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.
Students will receive a T4A that includes the CESB they received to use for filing their 2020 income tax returns.
Three categories of students are eligible for the CESB: (1) students enrolled in a post secondary education program; (2) students who have graduated from or left their post-secondary studies no earlier than December 2019; (3) 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.
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