Carl, I want to be sure we are reading this the same way. The rules read that the student cannot receive the refundable credit if the student earned less than half of their support. In other words (for practical purposes), the student was , in fact—by default—supported by the parent. So in practical terms, if the parent supported the student, the student is not eligible for the refundable portion. As you pointed out, that is the usual situation. (As an aside, if the student did earn more than have of his support and did, in fact, support himself, he could no longer qualify as a dependent and would claim all of the credit himself anyway).
