Colleges work in academic years, while the IRS works in calendar years. So the reality is, it takes five calendar years to get that four year degree. Typically, any and all credits are claimed in the first four calendar years. With the year they graduate (in the spring) being the 5th calendar year, credits such as the AOTC have already been claimed the maximum 4 years. That's why it's generally best to pay for that final semester in the tax year before that final semester starts, since most education expenses are claimed in the tax year they are actually paid.
For the graduate to qualify as your dependent in that 5th calendar year, that student must "not" have paid for more than half of their own support for the entire calendar year. Note that scholarships, grants, money from parents, etc. "DO NOT" count for the student having provided their own support. There are only two possible ways the student could justify a claim to having provided more than half of their own support for the entire tax year.
1) The student was self-employed or had a W-2 job and earned enough money to justify their claim to providing more than half of their own support for the entire tax year.
2) The student was the *primary* borrower on a qualified student loan and sufficient funds were distributed to the student during the tax year to justify a claim to them having provided more than half of their own support.
Take special note that there is no requirement for the parent(s) to have provided "any" support. Not one penny. The requirement is on the student, and only the student.
So if the support requirement is met (meaning the student did not provide more than half of their own support for the entire year) and the other four requirements are met, the student will qualify as your dependent. While this is not all that common in the 5th calendar year of their education, it's not unheard of either.
