Lifelong Learning Plan From Your RRSP Canada 2026: Limits and Repayment Schedule

The Lifelong Learning Plan lets you take money out of your RRSP, tax-free, to pay for full-time school for yourself or your spouse or common-law partner. If you are thinking about a career change, a second degree, or a college program in 2026, it can be a way to fund tuition and living costs without a student loan. The catch is that it is a loan to yourself, with a firm repayment schedule and tax consequences if you miss a payment. This guide covers the 2026 limits, who qualifies, how the repayment clock really works, and when the Lifelong Learning Plan beats other ways to pay for school.

Quick Answer

• You can withdraw up to $10,000 per calendar year and $20,000 in total per participation period from your RRSP under the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP), with no tax withheld.
• The money must fund full-time studies in a qualifying program for you or your spouse or common-law partner — not your children.
• You repay 1/10 of the total each year over 10 years. Repayment starts no later than the fifth year after your first withdrawal, and often sooner once the student stops qualifying.
• Any required repayment you miss is added to your taxable income for that year.

Pro Tip: Check Canada Student Grants before you touch your RRSP. Grants are money you never repay, and the federal portion of Canada Student Loans has been interest-free since April 1, 2023 — making it cheaper than an LLP withdrawal in the one respect that matters most, because an LLP withdrawal costs you a decade of compounding inside your RRSP even when you repay every dollar on schedule.

What Is the Lifelong Learning Plan and Who Can Use It?

The Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) is a federal program run through the Canada Revenue Agency. It lets RRSP holders borrow from their own RRSPs for education. Unlike a normal RRSP withdrawal, an LLP withdrawal is not added to your income and your RRSP issuer does not withhold tax, as long as you follow the rules and repay on time.

Basic eligibility

• You must be the annuitant (owner) of the RRSP you withdraw from.
• You must be a resident of Canada when you withdraw.
• You cannot participate after the end of the year you turn 71.
• The student, called the “LLP student,” must be you or your spouse or common-law partner. You cannot use the LLP for your children or your partner’s children.

If you are saving for a child’s education, that is the job of an RESP, not the LLP. Our guide on how RESP contribution room works in Canada explains that route.

Conditions the student must meet

• Be enrolled full time in a qualifying educational program at a designated educational institution. In general, a qualifying program lasts at least three consecutive months and requires at least 10 hours a week of courses or work.
• If not yet enrolled, have a written offer (a conditional offer is fine) to enrol before March of the year after the withdrawal.
• Still be enrolled in April of the year after the withdrawal, unless they have already finished the program.

There is one exception to the full-time rule. A student who meets the disability conditions, such as being eligible for the disability amount, can enrol part time.

Designated institutions include Canadian universities, colleges, and some other schools, plus some institutions outside Canada. If you are unsure whether a school or program qualifies, check with the school and the CRA before you withdraw. The CRA’s Lifelong Learning Plan page has the full definitions.

How Much Can You Withdraw Under the LLP in 2026?

The LLP limits have not changed for 2026. Here is how they work.

Note the two-part withdrawal window — this is where guides often oversimplify. Your ability to withdraw ends as soon as your repayment period begins, even if January of the fourth year is still ahead of you. In the worked example below, repayment starts in 2030 and the January deadline also falls in 2030, so they coincide; but if the student stops qualifying earlier than planned, the window can slam shut sooner than the calendar date suggests.

A couple could therefore draw up to $40,000 combined, for example if one partner goes back to school and both use their RRSPs to fund it. The withdrawal does not have to match your tuition. It can cover living costs while you study.

How to make the withdrawal

You fill out Form RC96, Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP, for each withdrawal and give it to your RRSP issuer. You can make more than one withdrawal in a year, as long as the total stays within $10,000.

Watch the 90-day contribution rule

If you contribute to your RRSP and then withdraw that money under the LLP within 89 days, you may lose the tax deduction for that contribution. This catches people who make a fresh contribution for the refund and then immediately pull it out for school.

The rule has a nuance worth understanding: if the value remaining in your RRSP immediately after the withdrawal is at least as much as the contribution you made, the contribution stays fully deductible. It is only when the withdrawal eats into that recent contribution that part of it becomes permanently non-deductible — you don’t get to claim it in a later year. So the trap mainly bites people withdrawing from a thin RRSP, not those with a substantial existing balance.

If you are unsure how deductions work, see our guide on how RRSP deductions work in Canada.

Locked-in and group plans

You generally cannot withdraw from locked-in RRSPs (such as LIRAs) or from group RRSPs that do not allow withdrawals while you work. Check with your plan administrator before you count on those funds.

How Does the LLP Repayment Schedule Work?

This is the part most people get wrong. You must repay your LLP withdrawals to your RRSP (or a PRPP or SPP) over 10 years, at 1/10 of the total withdrawn each year. The tricky part is when the 10 years start.

When repayment starts

The CRA looks at whether the LLP student was a qualifying student for at least three months in each year. Repayment starts in the earlier of:

1. The fifth year after your first LLP withdrawal. This is the latest possible start, and it applies if the student keeps qualifying every year.
2. The second of two years in a row in which the student did not qualify for at least three months. For most people who finish school, this is what sets the start date.

A worked example

Say you withdraw $10,000 in 2026 and $10,000 in 2027 to fund a two-year college program that runs from September 2026 to April 2028.

• You qualify as a student for at least three months in 2026, 2027, and 2028.
• You do not qualify in 2029 or 2030.
• Your repayment period starts in 2030, the second year in a row that you did not qualify. That is earlier than 2031, the fifth year after your first withdrawal.
• Your required repayment is $2,000 a year ($20,000 ÷ 10) from 2030 to 2039.

If you had stayed in school through 2030 instead, your repayment would start in 2031 at the latest.

The practical takeaway: finishing school earlier starts your repayment clock sooner. That is the opposite of what most borrowers assume, and it means a one-year program and a four-year program produce very different repayment start dates even for identical withdrawals.

How to make a repayment

1. Contribute to your RRSP, PRPP, or SPP during the repayment year or in the first 60 days of the next year.
2. Designate the amount as an LLP repayment on Schedule 7 when you file your tax return. A contribution you don’t designate is treated as an ordinary RRSP contribution, not a repayment — this is the single most common filing error with the LLP.
3. Check your LLP Statement of Account, which comes with your notice of assessment or in your CRA account, to confirm your balance and next required amount.

You must make repayments even if your RRSP deduction limit is zero or negative. An LLP repayment is not a new RRSP contribution, so you cannot deduct it. Any amount you contribute above the repayment can still be deducted if you have room.

What if you miss a repayment?

If you repay less than the required amount for a year, the shortfall is added to your income on line 12900 of your return and taxed at your marginal rate. Your LLP balance drops by that amount, but you lose that RRSP room for good. For example, if you skip a $2,000 repayment and your marginal rate is 30%, you owe about $600 in extra tax.

It is worth being clear that a missed repayment is not a default — nothing is sent to collections, and you can resume repayments the following year. The cost is tax now plus contribution room you can never recover.

Paying early and other situations

• Early repayments reduce the next required repayment, and you can repay the whole balance at any time.
• If the student leaves the program early, special rules apply, and you may be able to cancel the withdrawal or have it treated differently. Contact the CRA quickly — cancellation has its own deadline.
• If you become a non-resident, you must repay the balance within a short window or the rest is added to your income.
• If you die with a balance owing, it is generally included in your final return unless your spouse elects to take over the repayments.

Is the Lifelong Learning Plan Worth It?

The LLP gives you interest-free money with no credit check, but it has a real cost: the growth your RRSP gives up while the money is out.

The opportunity cost

Suppose $20,000 in your RRSP would have earned 5% a year. Left alone for 10 years, it would grow to about $32,600. When you take it out and repay it gradually, you get the $20,000 back, but not the growth you missed while it was out. Depending on markets and timing, that can mean several thousand dollars less at retirement.

This is the honest framing: the LLP is interest-free to the lender, but not free to you. The “interest” you pay is forgone compounding, and it is invisible because it never shows up on a statement.

Compare it with other options

• Canada Student Loans and grants: full-time students may qualify for federal grants that do not need to be repaid, and the federal portion of Canada Student Loans has been interest-free since April 1, 2023 (provincial portions may still charge interest). Check these first, because free money beats borrowing from yourself.
• TFSA savings: withdrawals are tax-free, and you get the room back the next year. There is no forced repayment schedule — which makes a TFSA strictly more flexible than the LLP if you have the balance.
• A regular RRSP withdrawal: fully taxable, with withholding tax, and you lose the contribution room permanently. The LLP is almost always better than this.
• Employer tuition support: some employers pay for courses, especially for career-related programs.

When the LLP makes the most sense

• You have RRSP savings but little cash or TFSA money.
• You expect your income to be low while studying, so you want to avoid debt payments during school.
• The program is likely to raise your earnings, making the 10-year repayment affordable.
• You would rather not take on interest-bearing private loans or lines of credit.

Before you withdraw, add the repayment to your post-graduation budget. A $2,000 a year repayment is about $167 a month. Setting up an automatic RRSP contribution for that amount makes it hard to miss — and because you have to designate it on Schedule 7 anyway, a standing monthly transfer plus a calendar reminder at tax time covers both halves of the obligation. For the full official rules on RRSPs and related plans, see the CRA’s RRSP and related plans page.

Key Takeaways

• The Lifelong Learning Plan lets you withdraw up to $10,000 a year and $20,000 in total from your RRSP tax-free for full-time education.
• Only you or your spouse or common-law partner can be the student; children are not eligible.
• You repay 1/10 of the total each year for 10 years, starting no later than the fifth year after your first withdrawal and often sooner.
• Your withdrawal window closes at the earlier of the start of your repayment period or January of the fourth calendar year after your first withdrawal.
• Designate each repayment on Schedule 7 — an undesignated contribution is not a repayment. Missed amounts go on line 12900 as income.
• Money contributed less than 90 days before an LLP withdrawal may be permanently non-deductible, depending on what’s left in the RRSP afterward.
• Check Canada Student Grants and the interest-free federal portion of Canada Student Loans before tapping your RRSP.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can I withdraw from my RRSP for education in 2026?

Up to $10,000 per calendar year and $20,000 in total under the Lifelong Learning Plan. Amounts above those limits are taxable income. Your spouse or common-law partner can withdraw the same amounts from their own RRSPs, so a couple can access up to $40,000.

When do I have to start repaying my LLP?

Repayment starts in the fifth year after your first withdrawal at the latest. It starts sooner if the student does not qualify as a student for at least three months in two years in a row; in that case it begins in the second of those years. Your LLP Statement of Account shows your start year and required amount.

Can I use the LLP to pay for my child’s university?

No. The LLP student must be you or your spouse or common-law partner. For a child’s education, an RESP is the right tool, and it can attract the Canada Education Savings Grant.

What happens if I don’t repay my LLP?

Any required repayment you miss is added to your income for that year and taxed at your marginal rate. You also lose that RRSP room permanently. It is not a default and nothing goes to collections — you can resume repayments the following year — but the lost contribution room does not come back.

Can I use the LLP for part-time studies?

Generally no, because the student must be enrolled full time. The exception is a student who meets the disability conditions, who may enrol part time. Check the CRA’s definitions or contact the CRA if you are unsure.

Can I use the LLP more than once?

Yes, but not while you owe a balance. You can start a new participation period in the year after your LLP balance reaches zero, which resets the $20,000 total limit.

The Lifelong Learning Plan can be a smart, low-cost way to fund a return to school, as long as you treat it as a real loan. Confirm your program qualifies, stay within the $10,000 and $20,000 limits, and build the 10-year repayment into your budget before you withdraw. Pay attention to when your repayment clock starts — finishing sooner starts it sooner. Check grants and interest-free federal student loans first, since they may cost you little or nothing. If you are weighing the LLP against other options, a tax professional or fee-only planner can help you map out the numbers.