Living with someone other than a birth-parent, step-parent or adoptive parent can have an effect on your student status. This is important because your student status is used to determine your need and your student assistance funding.

• Being under guardianship means you live with and are supported by a guardian who is not your parent but does fulfil the role of a parent. A guardian might also be a grandparent or other relative. Guardianship is not the same as being in foster care or being a ward of a government agency.

  If you have a legal guardian we assume your guardian(s) will support you financially. Your guardian(s) submit their income tax return from last year, and we use their income information to assess how much student assistance you are eligible to receive. If you have a guardian, your student status is probably Single Dependant.

• If you are in foster care or if you are a ward of a government agency for some other reason, you are financially dependent on the government. For the purposes of student assistance, your student status is probably Single Independent.