Financial and Parental Information
Cal State Apply 2025 Cycle Household Income and Size Information
Indicate whether any of the Household Income and Size Information questions apply to you to determine if you are considered a dependent or independent student. Note that your answers in this section do not affect your application for admission.
- Were you born before January 1, 2001?
- Are you currently an active duty member or a veteran of the US Armed Forces?
- As of today, are you married? (Also answer Yes if you are separated but not divorced.)
- You have or will you have children or dependents who will receive more than half of their support from you between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025?
- Someone other than your parent or stepparent have legal guardianship of you, as determined by a court in your state of legal residence?
- At any time since you turned age 13, both your parents were deceased, you were in foster care, or you were a dependent or ward of the court?
- At any time on or after July 1, 2023, did your high school, an emergency shelter, a transitional housing program, or homeless youth center determine that you were an unaccompanied youth or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?
- You currently do not live with your parent/stepparent or have not had contact or financial support from them for the last 12 months or more?
Independent Students
If you are an independent student, provide the following information about your household and income. Note that if you registered with the California Secretary of State as a domestic partner, your household size must include your partner and your combined legal dependents, and your partner's income must be included with your income. Be sure to enter your information accurately as this section cannot be updated after submission.
Household Size
- Total size of your household in the specified year, including yourself, your spouse and all dependents.
- Number of dependent children living with you in the specified year.
Income Information
- Adjusted gross income (AGI) for the specified year. Adjusted gross income can be found on your federal tax return as follows:
- Form 1040: Line 11
- Untaxed income and benefits for the specified year. Untaxed income is income not reported on a tax return, such as:
- Alimony.
- Child support.
- Untaxed portions of pensions.
- Housing, food, and other allowances paid to military, clergy, and others, including cash and cash value. Do not include the value of military on-base housing or the value of a basic military allowance for housing.
- Veterans – non-education benefits including Disability, Death Pension, or Dependency & Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and/or VA Educational Work-Study allowances.
- Other untaxed income such as worker’s compensation, disability benefits, etc.
Don’t include extended foster care benefits, student aid, earned income credit, additional child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or a military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion, or credit for federal tax on special fuels.
Note: If you did not file a tax return, all income would be entered on the untaxed income field. This includes earnings from work found on W-2s.
Dependent Students
If you are a dependent student, provide the following information about your parent/guardians' household. "Parent" refers to a biological or adoptive parent or a person determined by the state to be a parent (for example, if the parent is listed on the birth certificate). Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older siblings, and uncles or aunts are not considered parents on this form unless they have legally adopted you.
Review the following guidelines for reporting your parents/guardians:
- If your legal parents are living and married to each other, answer the questions about both of them.
- If your legal parents are not married and live together, answer the questions about both of them.
- In case of divorce or separation, give information about the parent you lived with most in the last 12 months. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, give information about the parent who provided you the most financial support during the last 12 months or during the most recent year you received support.
- If your divorced or widowed parent has remarried, also provide information about your stepparent.
- If your custodial parent/stepparent is registered with the California Secretary of State as a domestic partner, the parent/stepparent's household size must include the partner and the combined legal dependents, and the partner's income must be included with your parent/stepparent's income. Be sure to enter your information accurately as this section cannot be updated after submission.
Household Size
- Total size of parent/guardians' household in the specified year. Note that your parent/guardians' household includes your parents/guardians (or registered domestic partners), yourself, other dependent children, and other dependents. The total size should be greater than one.
Income Information
- Parents' adjusted gross income (AGI) for the specified year. Adjusted gross income can be found on your federal tax return as follows:
- Form 1040: Line 11
- Untaxed income and benefits for the specified year. Untaxed Income is income not reported on a tax return, such as:
- Alimony.
- Child support.
- Untaxed portions of pensions.
- Housing, food, and other allowances paid to military, clergy, and others, including cash and cash value. Do not include the value of military on-base housing or the value of a basic military allowance for housing.
- Veterans – non-education benefits including Disability, Death Pension, or Dependency & Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and/or VA Educational Work-Study allowances.
- Other untaxed income such as worker’s compensation, disability benefits, etc.
- Any money received or paid on your behalf, including cash, paying your rent, cell phone, utility bills, etc. Enter the total amount of cash support you (and if married, your spouse) received in 2022 from parents, relatives, or friends. This does not include gifts for birthdays or holidays. If you received the same dollar amount every month, multiply the amount by the number of months you received it. If you did not receive the same amount each month, add together the amounts you received each month. Round the total amount to the nearest whole dollar.
- Parents' untaxed income and benefits for the specified year.
Don’t include extended foster care benefits, student aid, earned income credit, additional child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or a military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion, or credit for federal tax on special fuels.
Note: If your parents did not file a tax return all income would be entered on the untaxed income field. This includes earnings from work found on W-2s.
If you don't wish to include your income, enter $999,999.
Cal State Apply 2026 Cycle Household Income and Size Information
Indicate whether any of the Household Income and Size Information questions apply to you to determine if you are considered a dependent or independent student. Note that your answers in this section do not affect your application for admission.
- Were you born before January 1, 2002?
- Are you currently an active duty member or a veteran of the US Armed Forces?
- As of today, are you married? (Also answer Yes if you are separated but not divorced.)
- You have or will you have children or dependents who will receive more than half of their support from you between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026?
- Someone other than your parent or stepparent have legal guardianship of you, as determined by a court in your state of legal residence?
- At any time since you turned age 13, both your parents were deceased, you were in foster care, or you were a dependent or ward of the court?
- At any time on or after July 1, 2024, did your high school, an emergency shelter, a transitional housing program, or homeless youth center determine that you were an unaccompanied youth or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?
- You currently do not live with your parent/stepparent or have not had contact or financial support from them for the last 12 months or more?
Independent Students
If you are an independent student, provide the following information about your household and income. Note that if you registered with the California Secretary of State as a domestic partner, your household size must include your partner and your combined legal dependents, and your partner's income must be included with your income. Be sure to enter your information accurately as this section cannot be updated after submission.
Household Size
- Total size of your household in the specified year, including yourself, your spouse and all dependents.
- Number of dependent children living with you in the specified year.
Income Information
- Adjusted gross income (AGI) for the specified year. Adjusted gross income can be found on your federal tax return as follows:
- Form 1040: Line 11
Don’t include extended foster care benefits, student aid, earned income credit, additional child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or a military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion, or credit for federal tax on special fuels.
Note: If you did not file a tax return, all income would be entered on the untaxed income field. This includes earnings from work found on W-2s.
Dependent Students
If you are a dependent student, provide the following information about your parent/guardians' household. "Parent" refers to a biological or adoptive parent or a person determined by the state to be a parent (for example, if the parent is listed on the birth certificate). Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older siblings, and uncles or aunts are not considered parents on this form unless they have legally adopted you.
Review the following guidelines for reporting your parents/guardians:
- If your legal parents are living and married to each other, answer the questions about both of them.
- If your legal parents are not married and live together, answer the questions about both of them.
- In case of divorce or separation, give information about the parent you lived with most in the last 12 months. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, give information about the parent who provided you the most financial support during the last 12 months or during the most recent year you received support.
- If your divorced or widowed parent has remarried, also provide information about your stepparent.
- If your custodial parent/stepparent is registered with the California Secretary of State as a domestic partner, the parent/stepparent's household size must include the partner and the combined legal dependents, and the partner's income must be included with your parent/stepparent's income. Be sure to enter your information accurately as this section cannot be updated after submission.
Household Size
- Total size of parent/guardians' household in the specified year. Note that your parent/guardians' household includes your parents/guardians (or registered domestic partners), yourself, other dependent children, and other dependents. The total size should be greater than one.
Income Information
- Parents' adjusted gross income (AGI) for the specified year. Adjusted gross income can be found on your federal tax return as follows:
- Form 1040: Line 11
Don’t include extended foster care benefits, student aid, earned income credit, additional child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or a military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion, or credit for federal tax on special fuels.
Note: If your parents did not file a tax return all income would be entered on the untaxed income field. This includes earnings from work found on W-2s.
If you don't wish to include your income, enter $999,999.
Campus Housing
This question only applies to undergraduate applicants. Indicate if you are interested in campus housing if space is available. Housing availability is subject to your submission of a separate campus housing application and availability.
Parent/Guardian Education Level
This question only applies to undergraduate applicants. Select the highest education levels achieved by your parent/guardian(s).