This is very helpful and particularly interesting that money he puts into savings does not count as support he spent on himself.
In my case it is my child, he is 22, he will be in graduate school full-time for maybe six years. School will give him a stipend in addition to a tuition waiver. The stipend in the first year will be less than half of his living expenses but the second year should be somewhat more than half. But in both cases I anticipate he will first pay the living expenses (his first crack at paying bills like an adult), then I will get reimbursement from the 529 for Qualified Education Expenses (I'm the account owner and he is the beneficiary) then transfer those dollars to his account. So at the end of the year "qualified" expenses have been paid by me and his savings account will be the amount of the stipend (minus fun stuff).
