‎About Knowledge First Financial

At Knowledge First Financial, we are committed to empowering students. Our flexible products and helpful RESP specialists are focused on enabling families maximize their education savings, so students can achieve success throughout their post-secondary journeys and beyond.

With over $7 billion in assets under management*, we are Canada’s largest RESP company. Everything we do at Knowledge First is in service to our students. We firmly believe that access to education is a basic right and pride ourselves on equipping our students and champions with the means to ensure a brighter financial future. We manage RESPs for more than 600,000 students and each year approximately 60,000 of them attend post-secondary with the help of one of our plans.
_{*As at December 31, 2020}

Knowledge First Financial is owned by a not-for-profit foundation (the Knowledge First Foundation) which instills in us a true purpose-led mandate of helping more students get to and through post-secondary education successfully. Our profits are reinvested in the foundation to create more programs and resources that help students prepare, stay strong, and be job-ready for their future.

Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Knowledge First has been helping our customers achieve their education savings goals since 1965.

1965	The International Scholarship Foundation (ISF) is incorporated.
1965	Scholarship Consultants of North America (SCONA) is incorporated.
1994	Family Group Plans and Family Individual Single Plans are introduced to the market.
1996	ISF acquires all shares of SCONA; both company’s board of directors continue to operate separately.
2003	SCONA changes its name to USC Education Savings Plan Inc. (USCI); the two companies begin to operate under one board of directors.
2007	The company’s scholarship award program is introduced, helping a number of students better deal with the financial realities of post-secondary education.
2011	ISF and SCONA merge to create the Knowledge First Foundation and Knowledge First Financial Inc. (KFF).
2012	Knowledge First Financial’s Flex First RESP plan is introduced to the market, and the company announces its plans to gradually transition away from its group plan business.
2018	Knowledge First Foundation acquires Heritage Education Funds Inc., which is then merged with KFF to create Canada’s largest RESP company.
2019	Knowledge First Financial goes green by offering electronic access to all plan information. Family Group Education Savings Plans are also all transferred to Family Single Student Plans, as a result of a subscriber vote.
2021	Knowledge First Financial announces the completion of a share purchase agreement to sell Heritage Education Funds International. Subscribers also vote in favour of transferring Heritage Group and Self-Determined RESP Plans to Knowledge First’s Family Single Student Education Savings Plan, marking the completion of the company’s exit of the group plan business.