No. It doesn't matter that he is older than you. At best, he might be considered as your Qualifying Relative (if he lived with you for the entire year).
So, it gets down to the support issue, i.e. a taxpayer must have provided more than half the support of a qualifying relative (QR) (section 152(d)(1)(C)).
Section 152(f)(5) prescribes a special treatment for scholarships with regard to the support tests. If the recipient is a full-time student at a qualifying educational organization as defined in section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) and “a child of the taxpayer” (section 152(f)(5)(A)), any scholarship is excluded from the support tests. For this purpose, a child of the taxpayer is defined as a son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, eligible foster child, a legally adopted child or an individual placed with the taxpayer for adoption (section 152(f)(1)). Descendants of these individuals are not included, even though they are in the relationship tests for QCs and QRs.
So, you will have to count his grants as part of his support. You'll need to see what other support you provide him in order to claim his dependency. As a help, attached is the official IRS worksheet for determining support.
If you have any other details regarding this question, please feel free to post them in the comment section.
