CalFresh Frequently Ask Questions (FAQs)

A photo ID (State or Student is fine)

Income Information - If you have a job, you will have to submit any pay stubs or income receipts that you’ve received over the past 30 days from the day of your application. Please make sure your name is on your document. 

Housing Information - It is recommended that you submit housing information as it applies to your situation. For most students, this will simply be a single page of a lease that includes your name, your address, and the rent total. If you have roommates and you split the rent amount, the total on the leasing document can be different than the amount you pay. For on campus students, you will submit your housing and dining contract (obtainable from HDH). Follow this link on how to obtain your housing contract from HDH and scroll down to view SIgnature of Tenancy Verification.

 Financial Aid Award Letter - This can be found through the Financial Aid Tool on TritonLink and will be one or two pages that displays your name and your financial aid information. If you receive CalGrant you will also have to submit your CSAC Award Letter (e-mailed to eligible students after applying to FAFSA).

Your Student Schedule (Obtainable from WebReg) Your student schedule must include your name on it. 

*If you are a graduate student, you may not be able to find it on mytritonlink. Reach out to your department about obtaining a copy of your financial aid award letter. 

**If you are part of the School of Medicine program, you can follow this link to the email that you will email for obtaining a copy of your financial aid award letter.

 If you have any questions about specific documentation, where to find it, or how to submit it, please contact our team at  CalFresh Assistance Form

Documents may vary person to person, please check our Application Tools section of the website about how to obtain certain documents. Keep in mind you may be able to send a document you already have versus having to fill out the document the county is asking of you.

 If you’re unsure where to start feel free to fill out the CalFresh Assistance Form on our website. We will get back to you on how to find the documents you need.

To provide the county with Enrollment Verification, first go to mytritonlink, then you can go to the Order Verification tool on Tritonlink tools under 'Grades and Transcript Tools.'  If this is your first time using this, you will be prompted to enter your personal information. Make sure to complete this, then move forward to the next step. Click "Send to Yourself, Another Individual, or Third Party" (blue bar below the search bar), and select 'Enrollment Verification - Electronic.' Then, fill out the Order Options and upload a picture or PDF of the School/Educational Institution Attendance Verification Form at the bottom for the school to fill out. Once you receive the filled out form, you can upload it to your application at this link. 

If your TAship and/or Stipend must be earned by working a certain number of hours, it must be counted as income and not financial aid. Some students apply with stipends that CAN be counted as financial aid, but it’s not the case with yours according to the county.

Household is defined as people who regularly buy and prepare food together. This does not mean that if you occasionally share food with roommates, friends, or family that you should count them in your household. If you purchase your own groceries and are applying to receive your own individual benefits, then you would record your household as 1—just you!

Documents can still be submitted following the submission of your application, but please keep in mind that the window to do so is fairly limited. We highly recommend that you don’t delay any of your submissions, but in the event that you must, you are able to access your case and submit additional documents here (https://www.getcalfresh.org/docs).

A “Household” on the CalFresh Application is counted as individuals who purchase and prepare food together on a regular basis. Individuals who usually purchase their own groceries and food (even when sometimes sharing food with friends or family that they may live with) should apply for their own benefits as a Household of 1.

Students who are under 22 years of age and currently live at their family’s address will have to apply as a household with their family. If you are over 22 and living at your family’s address, you are able to apply as an independent household. Any student over the age of 18 who has an address apart from their family’s (such as an on campus address) is able to apply as an independent household.

Keep in mind that when applying with family, all individuals on the application will have to provide required documentation—proof of ID, income, etc. For more information on this, see our FAQ on required documents for the application process!

For this section you will just put the amount of the rent you pay. It’s okay if your leasing contract says a different amount versus the one  you pay, they’ll see that you have roommates and that you are all splitting the rent.

A CSAC Award Letter is a letter sent by the California Student Aid Commission that confirms you received CalGrant A or B for the upcoming school year. Only students who meet the income requirement of annual parent and student income of no more than $50k will receive the CSAC letter with TANF (Temporary Assistance For Needy Family) language.

Your CSAC Award Letter should have been emailed to you at the beginning of the Academic Year to the Email that you used to apply to FAFSA. Alternatively, you may also find your letter through your CSAC webgrant portal under “view CAR”. Your letter may be submitted as either a PDF (recommended) or as a screenshot, but your name must be visible!

For an example of what this letter should look like, see our Application Tools page! If you can’t find your letter or need additional assistance with this process, please contact us at calfresh@ucsd.edu!