If your son is under 19 (or under 24 and a full time student) and he doesn't provide more than half of his own support for the tax year, you can claim him as a dependent.
You do have the choice of not claiming him. If you don't claim him, then you lose the Other dependent credit of $500 and you can't claim his education credit from his form 1098-T.
As for your son, on his own tax return, he is asked the question whether he paid more than half of his living expenses with earned income. If the answer is No, then he must say that he can be claimed as a dependent by someone else.
If someone can claim him as a dependent but does not actually claim him, he can claim the non-refundable part of the American Opportunity credit, but not the refundable part. If he doesn't have any tax liability, then there is no tax benefit for him.
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