If the daughter is a full-time student for at least 5 months out of the year, you can claim her as a dependent and deduct all of her qualified education expenses (whether paid by you or not).
See the following from IRS Publication 501:
- To be a
student, they must be, during some part of each of any 5 calendar months
of the year:
- A full-time
student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study,
and a regularly enrolled student body at the school, or
- A student
taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described
in (1), or by a state, county, or local government agency.
- The 5 calendar
months don't have to be consecutive
See the following from IRS Publication 970:
Who Can Claim the Credit?
Generally, you can
claim the American opportunity credit if all three of the following
requirements are met.
- You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.
- You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.
- The eligible student is either yourself, your spouse, or
a dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.
Note.
Qualified education expenses paid by a dependent
for whom you claim an exemption, or by a third party for that dependent, are
considered paid by you.
