Basically, "support" is the following things paid for with the student's earned income or the student's borrowed money:
Education (tuition, books, lab fees)
Housing
Food
Utilities
Transportation
Entertainment
One problem with this is that if the student doesn't have "earned" income or very little earned income and expenses were paid primarily with borrowed money, the related education deductions and credits the student may qualify for will be extremely limited or non-existent. That's because the deductions and credits are based on "EARNED" income. In such a case it's always better for the family as a whole, for the parent's to claim the student and the related education stuff if they qualify.
Remember, determining who claims the student as a dependent is completely unrelated to determining who qualifies to claim the education expenses. They are two completely different and separate determinations.
