Just an addendum for something unrelated that jumped out at me when I read it.
I'm still supporting her financially while she's in school.
There is no requirement for the parent to provide the student any support. Not one single penny. The support requirement is on the student, and only the student. That requirement is:
If the *STUDENT* did *NOT* provide more than half of their own support for the entire tax year, then the parent qualifies to claim that student as a dependent on the parent's tax return. Scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, money from mom and dad, and any other 3rd party income *DO* *NOT* *COUNT* for the student providing their own support. There are only two possible ways the student can have any claim to providing more than half of their own support.
1) The student is self-employed or has a W-2 job and makes sufficient *EARNED* income during the tax year to support a claim to providing more than half of their own support. Additionally, that earned income must be more than the total all of third party income received by the student during the tax year.
2) The student is the *PRIMARY* borrower on a *qualified* student loan, and sufficient funds were distributed to the student from that loan during the tax year to support a claim to providing more than half of their own support. Additionally, the funds distributed to the student during the tax year must exceed the total of all third party income received by the student in that same tax year.
