The federal government has rejected a key recommendation of a review into student income support, to remove all geographical distinctions from financial independence tests.

Instead, the government has kept the distinction between students from metropolitan and regional areas.

This means tighter criteria to prove financial independence are applied to metropolitan students than regional ones.

A spokesman for Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the government had partially adopted the review's recommendations and then built on them.

"In responding to the report, the government has decided to address regional inequity by ensuring that all regional students are treated equally," he told AAP in a statement on Wednesday.