Sole support parent

2020-21 OSAP Application for Full-time Students

You are a sole-support parent if you have a dependent child or children (as defined below) and you are single, separated, divorced, or widowed.

A dependent child is your natural, foster or adoptive child who is living with you at least 50% or more of your study period and is:

• under 18 years of age; or
• 18 years of age or older, single; and
• is enrolled in high school and taking at least 60% of a full course load; or
• is a full-time college or university student and has been out of high school less than six years (if child moved away to go to school and you are separated or divorced, you must be the parent that the child last lived with); or
• has a disability and is wholly dependent on you.

If your child has worked full-time at paid employment for 24 months in a row when they were not a full-time high school, college or university student the child is not considered a dependent child.

To be wholly dependent, a child over the age of 18 must meet all of the following conditions:

• The child is single and lives with the student;
• The child is, by reason of a mental or physical disability, dependent on others for their personal needs and care; and
• The child is claimed by the student for tax purposes and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has accepted the child as being wholly dependent upon the student for tax purposes.