How to Apply for Aid (DREAM): Prospective Undergraduate Students

In order to be eligible to be considered for funding through the DREAM Application: 

• You must not meet eligibility criteria to file a FAFSA
• You must meet the conditions of California AB540 status
• You must not hold a valid non-immigrant visa (F, J, H, L, A, B, C, D, E, etc.).   

The California Dream Act Application is intended for those students that are undocumented, have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or have a U Visa and meet the eligibility requirements.

Determine if You Should Complete the Dream Application

If you have further questions, including how to ensure you are completing the correct financial aid application, you can visit the Immigrants Rising website and review FAFSA VS CA Dream Act: Apply to the Correct Financial Aid.

Additional Resources:

• 10 Things You Need to Know about the California Dream Act Application
• California Student Aid Commission’s Dream Website 

The Dream Application asks for important personal identification information as well as financial information. You may be asked to provide identification and financial information for your parents as well.   

Be sure to use the exact name and date of birth on the Dream Application that you use on your Admissions Application! 

You should have the following information and documents with you as you fill out your Dream Application: 

• Your Social Security Number (if you have one)
• Your Driver’s License number if you have one
• Your parent’s Social Security Numbers (if they have one) – if parent information is required on the  application. 
• Federal Tax information or tax returns – including IRS W-2 information for you (and your spouse if  married), and for your parents if parent information is required on the application. 
• Records of your untaxed income, such as child support received, interest income, and veterans non-education benefits for you and for your parents if parent information is required on the application. 
• Information on cash, savings, and checking account balances; investments – including real estate (not including the home in which you live); and business and farm assets for you, and for your parents if parent information is required on the application. 

 
To be considered for California State or Cal Poly Pomona Institutional Grants, a completed financial aid application must be submitted by the March 2 deadline (April 2, 2022 for the 2022-2023 year only). 

Additional Resources:

• Resources for the Dream Application
• Dream Application Worksheet (2021-2022) 

Students who are under the age of 24 as of December 31 of the award year and do not meet any other very limited criteria, are considered “Dependent” for financial aid purposes and therefore, must provide parental information.  

You are considered an Independent Student if any one of the following applies to you: 

• You are or will be 24 years of age or older by December 31 of the award year (For example, born before January 1, 1999 for the 2022-2023 Aid Year/Application)
• You are married, or 
• You have children or dependents for whom you provide more than 50% of the support for, or
• You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, having served on active duty, or
• You are a ward of the court or both of your parents are deceased. 

If none of the conditions above apply to you, you are considered a Dependent Student for financial aid purposes and must supply information about your parents on your Dream Application. 

If you are unable to get your parent information, complete the application as much as you can and contact our office (Financial Aid & Scholarships) as soon as possible. We will evaluate your situation and inform you if we are able to override the need for parent information. CSAC does not have the authority to override dependency or financial information.  

The following resources from Federal Student Aid provide additional help in understanding your dependency status for financial aid:  
 

Fact Sheets:

• English Language:  Am I Dependent or Independent? (PDF)
• Spanish Language:  Soy alumno/adependiente o independiente? (PDF) 

If you’re a dependent student, you’ll need to report parent information on your DREAM Application.   One parent must sign your application, even if you do not live with your legal parents (your biological and/or adoptive parents).  

For help with determining which parent(s) should be included on your Dream Application, please refer to the following image from Federal Student Aid (the same information applies to the Dream Application):

Below are some general guidelines to help you with the information that will be needed: 

• If your legal parents (your biological and/or adoptive parents, or parents as determined by the state—e.g., a parent listed on your birth certificate) are married to each other, answer the questions about both of them, regardless of whether your parents are of the same or opposite sex.
• If your legal parents are not married to each other and live together, answer the questions about both of them, regardless of whether your parents are of the same or opposite sex.
• If your legal parent is widowed or was never married, answer the questions about that parent.
• If your parents are divorced or separated and don’t live together, answer the questions about the parent with whom you lived more during the past 12 months.
• If you lived the same amount of time with each divorced or separated parent, give answers about the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months or during the most recent 12 months that you actually received support from a parent. 

Divorced or Separated Parents Who Live Together 

• If your divorced parents live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “Unmarried and both parents living together,” and you will answer questions about both of them on the Dream Application.
• If your separated parents live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “Married or remarried" (NOT “Divorced or separated”), and you will answer questions about both of them on the DREAM Application. 

What if I live with someone other than my parents? 

It doesn’t matter if you don’t live with your parent or parents; if you are a Dependent Student, you still must report information about them. The following people are not your parents unless they have legally adopted you:

• grandparents
• foster parents
• legal guardians
• older brothers or sisters
• uncles or aunts
• widowed stepparents. 

What kind of information must my parents provide for the DREAM Application? 

For each parent, you’ll report similar information to that you report for yourself: basic information about your parent’s identity (e.g., name, Social Security number–if he or she has one, date of birth); living situation (e.g., marital status, state of residence, household size); and financial circumstances (e.g., tax information, certain assets, certain untaxed income). 

Additional Resources:

• CA Dream Application
• Dream Act FAQ’s
• California Student Aid Commission Dream Application Resources 

After you have completed the Dream Application, you (and your parent – if Dependent) will need to sign the application.   

Parent Signature: 

If parent information was required, navigate to the button on the CA Dream Act website that says “Parent Signature.”  Your parent must create a Parent PIN and answer the verification questions if they do not already have a CSAC Parent PIN. Your parent will be issued a 4-digit electronic PIN code to sign your application. Keep this code in a safe place, because your parent will need it to re-sign the California Dream Application each time you make a correction to your application or file a new one in a subsequent year. 

If your parent does not receive a PIN, they must provide a signature page for every correction that is made. 

Keep in mind every time you submit a correction to your California Dream Application, you (and your parent, if dependent) must sign your application.

In situations such as the ones below, you may be able to submit your application without parent information despite being considered a dependent student: 

• Your parents are incarcerated.
• You have left home due to an abusive family environment.
• You do not know where your parents are and are unable to contact them (and you have not been adopted).
• You are older than 21 but not yet 24, are unaccompanied, and are either homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. 

The online application will ask you whether you are able to provide information about your parents. If you are not, you will have the option to indicate that you have special circumstances that make you unable to get your parents’ information. The site then allows you to submit your application without entering data about your parents. 

If you are unable to get your parent information, complete the application as much as you can and contact our office (Cal Poly Pomona Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships) as soon as possible. We will evaluate your situation and determine if we can override the need for parent information. CSAC does not have the authority to override dependency or financial information.

Completing the Dream Application is not the last step; your application has to be processed, and then you get an Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which Cal Poly Pomona uses to determine out how much aid you are eligible to receive.

After initial successful submission of your application, the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) will send you an email with your nine-digit Dream ID number. If you do not receive an email from CSAC, be sure to check your spam/junk mail folders. Keep your Dream ID number in a safe place because you will use it to log back into the Dream Application, when you correct errors on the Dream Application, or when you talk to CSAC or to Cal Poly Pomona.

• Review the Confirmation Page within your application to see if there are any errors that need your attention.
• Review your California Student Aid Report (CA-SAR).  Your SAR will list the information that you provided on the California Dream Act Application, as well as an Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
• Check your CA-SAR for accuracy. For corrections, return to the California Dream Act website and make the changes immediately. If no changes are needed, save the form for your records.  

Additional Resources:

• California Dream Act Website
• DREAM Application FAQ’s