Common App Family Section — A Guide for Parents
Parent 1 vs Parent 2, divorce, step-parents, a deceased parent, guardians, first-generation status and alumni questions, from Common App's own wording.
The Common App Family Section: A Parent's Guide to Parent 1, Parent 2, Divorce and First-Gen Status
List both of your child's parents, even if you are divorced, one parent is deceased, or one has no legal role. Common App asks for exactly that. Step-parents usually go in Additional Information. Your education answers set the first-generation flag colleges see.
This is the one part of the Common App where your child needs facts only you have: degrees, colleges, years, occupations. The student still fills in and submits the application. Your job is to give accurate answers quickly. Everything quoted below comes from Common App's own materials, checked on September 24, 2026: the printable first-year application, its help center, and its presentation on what is new for 2026–27.
A note on versions. The most recent printable copy of the application we could open is the 2025–26 edition (Harvard's admissions site hosts Common App's PDF). Common App's own "What's New" presentation lists the family changes for 2026–27, and those are marked below. The live form your child sees is the final word.
The Instruction at the Top of the Section
The printable application opens the Family section with this:
"Please list both parents below, even if one or more is deceased or no longer has legal responsibilities for you. If you are a minor with a legal guardian, please include that information. You may list step-parents and/or other adults you live with, or who care for you, in the additional information section."
Most of the questions parents ask are answered by those three sentences. The Family section is about who your child's parents are, not who pays the bills or who has custody. Both parents are listed. A guardian is added if there is one. Other important adults can be described elsewhere.
What the Section Asks
| Block | What the printable application asks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Household | "With whom do you make your permanent home?" Options: Parent 1, Parent 2, Both parents, Legal guardian, Ward of the court/state, Other | "Other" opens a box to describe the living situation |
| Household | "Parents' marital status (relative to each other)": Married, Separated, Divorced, Never married, Widowed, Civil union/domestic partners | It asks about your two parents, not a later marriage |
| Parent 1 / Parent 2 | Parent type, and for Parent 2 an option "I do not have another parent to list" | The 2025–26 printable lists Mother or Father as the type choices |
| Living status | "Is parent 1 living?" Yes / No, with "Date deceased" (month and year) | Same for Parent 2 |
| Contact and work | Name, former surname, phone, email, "Occupation (former, if retired)," occupation/employer | Contact details do not mean the college will contact you (see FAQ) |
| Education | "College attended (if any)," degree, and year, with room for two colleges per parent | These answers drive the first-generation flag |
| Legal guardian | A separate block "(if other than parent)" with "Relationship to you" | Only if your child has a guardian |
| Siblings | Names and ages | The 2026–27 limit rises to 10 (see below) |
Common App's help center adds one option that is easy to miss:
"You may select 'I have limited information about this parent' to describe any parent that you do not wish to give information about. Selecting this option will make questions for this parent not required."
Parent 1 vs Parent 2: Does the Order Matter?
The printable application and the help-center articles we checked set no rule about which parent is Parent 1, and neither describes any meaning attached to the order. They are two slots with the same questions. The one place the numbers matter is the Household question. If your child lives mainly with one parent, choose "Parent 1" or "Parent 2" to match the slot that parent is in. Before your child answers, agree which parent goes in which slot, so the household answer matches.
Situation by Situation
| Your situation | What to enter | Common App wording it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Divorced or separated | Both parents in Parent 1 and Parent 2. Marital status "Divorced" or "Separated." Household = the parent your child mainly lives with, or "Both parents" | "Please list both parents below… even if one… no longer has legal responsibilities for you" |
| Never married | Both parents. Marital status "Never married" | Marital status is "relative to each other" |
| Step-parent in the home | Biological or legal parents in the parent slots. Describe the step-parent in Additional Information unless the live form gives a step-parent field | "You may list step-parents and/or other adults you live with, or who care for you, in the additional information section" |
| A parent has died | List that parent. "Is parent living?" = No, with the month and year | "Even if one or more is deceased" |
| One parent is absent or unknown | Use "I have limited information about this parent" | Help center: makes that parent's questions "not required" |
| Only one parent | Parent 2: "I do not have another parent to list" | Printable application option |
| Legal guardian | Parents as known, plus the guardian block with "Relationship to you." Household = "Legal guardian" | "If you are a minor with a legal guardian, please include that information" |
| Grandparent raising the child without guardianship | Parents as known. Household = "Other," then describe it. The grandparent can be described in Additional Information | "Other adults you live with, or who care for you" |
| Independent student (2026–27) | Parent and sibling questions are skipped. A new question captures first-generation status | Common App, "What's New" for 2026–27 |
For divorced families the main message is this: the Family section is not a financial aid form. Aid applications have their own rules about which parent reports income, and those rules are different. If divorce affects your aid paperwork, our guide to the CSS Profile with divorced parents and noncustodial-parent waivers covers that.
Independent Students: What Changed for 2026–27
Common App's 2026–27 presentation lists three family changes:
"The # of siblings students can report will increase from 5 to 10"
"Learners who meet the FAFSA definition of an independent student will no longer answer questions about parents or siblings"
"A new question for independent learners will capture first-generation status"
Common App's help center explains who counts as independent. A student who will be 23 or older by December 31 of the year they start college is independent. So is a younger student with one of the FAFSA statuses, which include being "in foster care," a "legally emancipated minor," an "orphan (no biological or adoptive parents)," a "ward of the court or state," or having "a legal guardian other than a parent or step-parent."
One help-center article still says siblings are capped at five ("If you need to enter more than five siblings, please use the Additional Information section, located in the Writing section"). The 2026–27 presentation raises that cap to ten. If your child has more siblings than the live form allows, the Additional Information route still works.
First-Generation Status: How Your Education Answers Are Used
Many parents don't realize this: your answers in "College attended" and "Degree" are what mark your child as first-generation in Common App's data. Common App's help-center article on the definition says:
"If neither parent has a Bachelor's degree, 'Other' degree or certificate, or higher the applicant will be identified as first-generation."
The same article gives the status at submission more precisely: "Upon submission of the application, first-generation status in our system means that neither parent has received a four-year bachelor's degree or higher." It adds that the submitted field is "static" and shows status "at the time they submit."
Three things follow for you:
- Enter degrees exactly. A four-year bachelor's degree held by either parent means your child is not first-generation in Common App's data. Report degrees accurately, including degrees earned outside the US.
- Pick the degree that was actually awarded. The article's two sentences are not identical: the first counts an "Other" degree or certificate alongside a bachelor's, while the definition at submission says a four-year bachelor's or higher. Don't try to game that gap. Choose the option that matches the diploma.
- Finish the parent education fields before submission. The article notes that the in-progress flag changes as information is entered, and that the submitted value is fixed at submission.
Colleges pull this field from Common App. A college's own scholarship or program may define first-generation in its own words, so read that college's wording wherever the status matters.
Alumni and Legacy Questions
The Common App Family section asks where each parent went to college. Many colleges then ask their own family questions in their section of the application. The help center shows how specific these are. For Penn's "Family Penn Grads" question, the instruction is "Please list only parents (or legal guardians) and grandparents." For USC, applicants should list "any siblings also applying to USC as first-year students" and "any benefits-eligible parents or spouses who are employed by USC."
How much any college weighs an alumni connection is that college's own policy, and policies differ. The college-by-college picture is in which top colleges ended legacy admissions. Either way, answer the question as asked and accurately. Leaving out a real connection gains nothing, and inflating one (a summer program is not a degree) is a misstatement on a document your child certifies.
A 15-Minute Procedure for This Week
- Sit down once with your child and a single sheet of facts. For each parent: legal name, any former surname, occupation and employer (former, if retired), each college attended, degree, and year.
- Agree on Parent 1 and Parent 2 and on the Household answer that matches where your child actually lives.
- Choose the marital-status option that describes the two parents relative to each other.
- Decide on step-parents and other caregivers. If they matter to your child's story, your child can mention them briefly in Additional Information. It is your child's decision.
- Check the education fields twice. They set the first-generation flag.
- List each college's own family questions (alumni, siblings applying, employees) from My Colleges, and answer each exactly as worded.
- Hand the form back. Your child enters and reviews the answers. You do not submit anything.
Where Family Belongs in the Essay, and Where It Doesn't
The Family section gives facts. The essay is where your child decides whether any of those facts are part of their story. That is their decision, not yours, and nothing in the Family section requires an essay about it. Some students write about a parent's death, a divorce, or two households. If your child chooses that, the Common App background-and-identity prompt is the natural home. Our guide to writing about hardship without a sob story explains why the reader wants your child's thinking, not the event itself. Our guide on how much parents should help with the college essay covers your side of that line.
When your child has a draft, they can run it through GradPilot's free review against the matching Common App rubric, and you can read the feedback together. The review gives qualitative notes on the draft. It does not predict admission, and it does not write or edit the essay. The 2026–27 Common App essay prompts are the starting point, and what you actually sign on a college application is worth reading once before your child submits.
FAQ
Who should be Parent 1 on the Common App?
Common App's printable application and the help-center articles we checked do not assign any meaning to the order. Choose one arrangement and make the Household answer ("Parent 1," "Parent 2," "Both parents") match it.
Do I have to list my ex-spouse on my child's Common App?
The application's instruction is to "list both parents below, even if one or more is deceased or no longer has legal responsibilities for you." If your child truly has little or no information, Common App offers "I have limited information about this parent," which makes that parent's questions not required.
Where do step-parents go on the Common App?
The printable application says step-parents and other adults "you live with, or who care for you" can be listed in the Additional Information section. The step-parent is not entered in a parent slot in place of a biological or legal parent.
How does Common App decide if my child is first-generation?
From the parent education answers. At submission, Common App treats a student as first-generation when "neither parent has received a four-year bachelor's degree or higher." For 2026–27, independent students answer a separate first-generation question.
Will colleges contact me using the details in the Family section?
Common App's help center describes one college (the University of Minnesota Twin Cities) that will contact parents only if they are listed in its own contacts question. Common App publishes no general rule that entering your details means colleges will contact you. Check each college's own questions.
Sources
- Common App first-year application, 2025–26 printable edition (hosted by Harvard College) (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App: What's New with Common App First-Year 2026–2027 (presentation) (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: What should I do if I don't have any information about one of my parents? (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: How does the Common Application define first generation? (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: How does Common App determine if I'm a financially independent student? (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: What if I have more than 5 siblings to add? (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: Family Penn Grads (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: Family Information (USC) (retrieved September 24, 2026)
- Common App help center: Parent/guardian contact information (University of Minnesota) (retrieved September 24, 2026)
Let Your Teen Check Their Own Draft
Your student runs their essay against the matching Common App rubric for free. Read the feedback together; the writing stays theirs.