Students in grades 4 to 8 across Canada will gain access to free digital financial-literacy lessons under a new partnership involving RBC, Seaspan and education technology company Everfi.
The Dollars + Sense program is designed to introduce children to practical money decisions, including saving, budgeting, spending and planning for the future. The initiative builds on a British Columbia pilot launched by Seaspan in mid-2025 and is expected to expand to at least 750 schools each year for three years.
For schools and families, the program offers an opportunity to discuss financial choices before students begin making more independent decisions about money. Its lessons are intended to build confidence alongside basic knowledge, with activities that connect financial concepts to everyday situations and longer-term goals.
“There is tremendous opportunity to teach young people more about money and personal”
The quotation, provided in the announcement from Seaspan, ends mid-sentence in the available source material. Seaspan said the collaboration with RBC and Everfi represents the growth of an opportunity it identified several years ago, following the experience of its British Columbia pilot.
Lessons tailored to different age groups
Dollars + Sense includes three digital courses. The materials are divided by grade range so that younger students can begin with core ideas while older students work through more detailed decisions involving savings, employment and future education.
| Course | Grades | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Vault: Understanding Money | 4 to 6 | Money choices, saving, budgeting, credit and future planning |
| SaveUp: Saving Money for the Future | 6 to 8 | Saving and spending, financial goals, savings accounts and emergency savings |
| FutureSmart: Financial Literacy | 6 to 8 | Budgeting, saving, spending, careers and plans for education and other goals |
The youngest learners will encounter concepts such as responsible spending and the purpose of a budget. For students in the upper grades, the courses move toward setting targets, understanding how savings accounts work and considering how career and education plans may affect future finances.
Classroom support included
The initiative is not limited to online content. RBC volunteers will work with teachers to support lessons either virtually or in person. According to the announcement, volunteers will help explain the material, respond to students’ questions and connect classroom learning with real-world financial experience.
That support could give teachers an additional way to make abstract ideas more concrete for students. A discussion about a financial goal, for example, can be linked to choices about saving, spending or planning for an eventual education expense. The program’s stated aim is to help young people develop habits and understanding at an early age, as financial decisions become more complicated over time.
Expansion follows B.C. pilot
The original pilot reached more than 130 schools and over 3,700 students in British Columbia. With RBC joining Seaspan and Everfi, the program is now being extended across the country and made available to a substantially larger number of schools.
- More than 130 schools participated in the British Columbia pilot.
- More than 3,700 students were reached during that pilot.
- The national expansion is planned for at least 750 schools annually over three years.
- The resources are available to schools at no cost.
The announcement does not identify the provinces, territories or individual schools that will participate first in the national rollout. It does, however, position the initiative as a Canada-wide resource for educators working with students in the middle years of elementary and early secondary education.
Financial literacy can be difficult to teach when students have limited direct experience with banking, credit or long-term planning. By combining age-specific digital courses with teacher support and volunteer participation, Dollars + Sense is intended to give classrooms a structured starting point for those conversations. For students, the central lesson is that everyday choices about money can be understood, discussed and planned for rather than left to chance.
