Get your taxes done using TurboTax

The purpose of that question is this-

There are two education credits, 

The American Opportunity Tax Credit

The Lifetime Learning Credit

Both credits can lower your tax, meaning if you owe tax, and then get the credit, the credit will be subtracted from your tax liability.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit is even more  valuable because  it can lower your tax, but also be added to your refund. 

So if you're eligible for a credit and the credit zeros-out your tax, only the American Opportunity can add up to 1,000 to your refund and only IF YOU ARE NOT A DEPENDENT.

For some students that have a tax liability, it might make sense to make this selection if their parents can't claim the credit because the parents have too high an income to be eligible for the education credit.

This student would select "Someone else can claim me" 

But NOT "Someone else will claim me"

This is saying "yes, my mom COULD claim me but she isn't". 

Now the dependent student not being claimed on anyone's tax return can get the NON-REFUNDABLE part of the credit only. If they can get the credit and they have a tax liability, the credit can lower their tax liability. It does not give them the 1,000 refund. 

So try to decide who would get more by taking the credit, and if it's your mom, have her claim you. 

If you do not have a tax liability (which means you would have had to earn more than 15,000 in wages) the credit would do you no good. 

Pub 970 explains further