what I am thinking is if he can support more than half of his expense then he can file on himself, then he can be qualified for AOC. but it seems like we cannot do that.
I sense some misunderstanding of the rules here. First, understand that all third party income received by the student does not count for the student providing their own support. This includes, and is not limited to scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, money from mom and dad, gift from Aunt Mary, etc. The requirement is that the student (not the parent) provide more than half of their own support. There are only two possible ways the student can do that.
1) The student is self-employed or has a W-2 job and earns sufficient money to justify a claim of providing more than half of their own support. Additionally, that earned money must be more than the total of all third party income received in the same tax year.
2) The student (not the parent) is the primary borrower on a qualified student loan, and sufficient funds are distributed from that loan during the tax year to justify a claim of the student providing more than half of their own support. Additionally, the total funds distributed to the student during the tax year must be more than the total of all third party income received.
Finally, some parents are of the mistaken belief that they have to pay more than 50% of the students support. That's just not so. There is no requirement for the parents to provide the student any support. Not one single penny. The support requirement is on the student, and only the student.
