@Carl
It just hit me that you might have written what you did because you incorrectly assumed that the definition of "dependent student for FAFSA purposes" is the same as the definition of "dependent" + "student" for federal tax purposes. And so you might have thought that the FAFSA definition was relevant to my tax question. Is that what happened?
If so, then, to put things in your style, if you do your own research, you'll actually be able to discover for yourself that the two definitions are different. I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiment that students shouldn't simply be handed answers, but should have to work a bit for them. In my experience, students learn more this way. Still, unlike you, I don't see any harm in providing a student with some hints. So, I'll offer you the hint below.
Someone who is fully self-supporting can meet the definition of "dependent student for FAFSA purposes". Just go through the questions at the link you gave me (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/dependency), and you should be able to see this. But such a person cannot meet the definition of "dependent" (let alone "dependent" + "student") for federal tax purposes. Just go through pp. 20-21 of the 2018 i1040 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf), and you should be able to see this.
Is there really a question like mine on the quizlet.com website or did you just mean that my question SOUNDS like the test questions you've seen at quizlet.com? If there really is such a question, I'd love to see it. Maybe I can get ahold of the person who created the question. S/he may be able to help me.
