Hardly a bachelor to depend on! (6)
I believe the answer is:
barely
'hardly' is the definition.
(I know that hardly can be written as barely)
'a bachelor to depend on' is the wordplay.
'a bachelor' becomes 'BA' (the qualification: Bachelor of Arts).
'to depend' becomes 'rely' (to depend on someone is to rely on them).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'ba'+'rely'='BARELY'
(Other definitions for barely that I've seen before include "Hardly" , "Just about, nothing to spare" , "how streakers like to act?" , "how naturists exist" , "how babies are born?" .)