How to Fill Out and Submit the DVS-40: California College Fee Waiver

The DVS 40 is the application you file to claim California’s College Fee Waiver for Veteran Dependents, a state benefit that waives mandatory system-wide tuition and fees at any California Community College, California State University, or University of California campus.¹ You complete the form, take it with your supporting documents to your local County Veterans Service Office (CVSO), and receive a Letter of Eligibility to hand to your school. The waiver runs by academic year, so you resubmit a new DVS 40 each year you stay enrolled.

The current revision is DVS-40 (Rev 1/24). Download it from the CalVet website or pick up a copy at your CVSO.¹

Pick the Plan You Qualify Under

The form asks you to check one of four plans. You only need to qualify under one.

Plan A covers the spouse, registered domestic partner, unmarried surviving spouse, or unmarried child of a veteran who has a 100 percent service-connected disability rating or died from service-related causes. The veteran must have served during a congressionally declared war period or received a Campaign or Expeditionary Medal, and the disability rating must have been established before the child turned 21. No income limit applies.¹

Plan B is broader on the veteran’s side and narrower on yours. Any service-connected disability rating qualifies the veteran, including a zero-percent rating, but the student’s annual income (AGI plus the value of support from a parent) cannot exceed the federal poverty level. The DVS 40 directs you to your CVSO for the current year’s threshold.¹

Plan C applies to any dependent or unmarried surviving spouse of a California National Guard member who was killed, permanently disabled, or died from a disability resulting from activation under Military and Veterans Code Section 146.¹

Plan D covers the children of Medal of Honor recipients and carries its own verification through the CVSO.

If you’re not sure which plan fits, leave the box for later and ask your CVSO during your appointment.

Baseline Requirements Every Applicant Must Meet

Regardless of plan, Military and Veterans Code Section 891 sets a few threshold rules. You must be at least 14 or have entered the ninth grade, and you must either be a California native or have lived in the state for at least five of the nine years immediately before you apply.²

For children, the age ceiling is 27. Eligibility must begin before age 21, and the benefit then continues until you finish your program or turn 27, whichever comes first. If you served honorably in the Armed Forces yourself, that ceiling stretches to 30. Spouses, surviving spouses, and registered domestic partners have no age limit but are capped at 48 months of full-time training or the part-time equivalent.²

One restriction surprises applicants: you cannot use this waiver during any period you are entitled to receive federal Chapter 35 Dependents’ Educational Assistance or duplicate assistance from another government source.³ If Chapter 35 benefits currently apply to you, you must exhaust or decline them before the state waiver kicks in.

Documents to Gather Before You Fill Anything Out

Missing a single document is the most common reason applications stall. Have all of this in hand first:

The student’s Social Security number, and the veteran’s Social Security number or VA claim number.¹
Proof of the dependency relationship. A government-issued birth certificate showing the veteran as a parent, a legal adoption order, or a marriage certificate. Stepchildren need both the marriage certificate showing the veteran married the birth parent and the child’s birth certificate, and the stepchild or adoption status must have been established before the child turned 23. Guardianship documents and paternity tests do not qualify. Consular Reports of Birth Abroad are accepted.⁴
The veteran’s DD-214 or equivalent, showing discharge under honorable conditions.
VA documentation of the veteran’s service-connected disability rating.
Income verification, if you’re applying under Plan B. See the next section.

Working Through the Form

The top section collects student information: name, Social Security number, date of birth, marital status, mailing address, phone, and email. The next block covers the veteran: name, Social Security number or VA claim number, branch of service, and current disability rating. Check the box for your plan.

The Plan B Income Section

Plan B applicants fill out the financial section, which asks for two dollar figures:

Your Adjusted Gross Income from the previous calendar year, taken directly from your signed federal Form 1040 or California Form 540.¹
The Annual Value of Support from a parent or guardian: the total value of housing, transportation, books, school supplies, medical care, and similar expenses provided to you during that tax year.¹

Be thorough on the Value of Support line. Rent paid on your behalf, a phone bill covered by a parent, medical coverage carried through a parent’s plan: those all count. The CVSO adds AGI and Value of Support together and compares the total to the poverty guideline.

If you did not file a tax return, you cannot simply leave the field blank or attach a return showing zero. You need an official Verification of Non-filing from the IRS (obtained through Form 4506-T) or from California’s Franchise Tax Board.¹⁵ A tax return reporting zero income is not the same as a Verification of Non-filing. If you filed at $0, you attach the signed return; the non-filing letter is only for people who genuinely didn’t file.⁴

If both AGI and Value of Support are zero, the CVSO will require a certified statement explaining how you afford college and support yourself. Be ready to describe any savings, scholarships, or other non-parental resources you rely on.⁴

Where and When to Submit

Bring the completed DVS 40 and all supporting documents to your local County Veterans Service Office. Not your college’s admissions or financial aid office. The CVSO reviews the application, verifies your documents against VA and tax records, and determines the plan you qualify under. Use the CVSO directory on the CalVet website to find your nearest office.

Submit well before the semester starts. CVSO offices are busiest in the weeks before fall enrollment, so applying in spring or early summer gives you the best chance of holding your Letter of Eligibility before tuition bills come due.

After the CVSO Approves You

The CVSO mails you a Letter of Eligibility. Take that letter to the financial aid or veterans affairs office at your California college; the school uses it to waive the covered fees on your student account for that academic year. Without the letter, the school has no authority to waive anything, so don’t enroll assuming the waiver will apply automatically.

Reapply with a fresh DVS 40 every year you remain enrolled.¹ Income, disability ratings, and age status can shift between years, and the CVSO reassesses eligibility each time. Treat renewal as a routine part of fall prep, not something to scramble on after classes begin.

What the Waiver Covers, and What It Doesn’t

The waiver applies to mandatory system-wide tuition and fees at California Community Colleges, CSU campuses, and UC campuses.¹ At UC, that means system-wide tuition and the student services fee. At CSU and community colleges, it covers the comparable state-mandated components.

Campus-based fees are not covered. Every campus charges its own local fees for student activities, health services, facility use, and the like, and those stay your responsibility. The waiver also does not apply to University Extension courses or to self-supporting graduate professional degree programs such as executive MBAs and professional master’s degrees, because those programs are not state-subsidized.⁶

1
California Department of Veterans Affairs. California Department of Veterans Affairs College Fee Waiver Program for Veteran Dependents
2
California Legislative Information. California Military and Veterans Code 891
3
California Legislative Information. California Military and Veterans Code 896.1
4
Inyo County. CalVet Tuition Fee Waiver Documentation Requirements
5
Northern Illinois University. How to Complete an IRS Form 4506-T for Verification of Non-filing
6
UC Berkeley Office of the Registrar. Cal-Vet College Fee Waiver