I'm sorry, but I don't feel you clearly answered either one of my questions, and you also added even more confusion.
In one of my two cases, my son was enrolled as half time in a non-degree seeking dual enrollment program at a local community college as a high school senior for the fall 2021 semester. You say that does not make him eligible for an Education Credit, but both the link you provided and this one:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/college-education/discussion/can-i-take-a-deduction-for-my-daughte...
say he would be eligible for the Lifetime Learning credit.
In the other case, my other son had a less than half time load in a similar high school senior community college dual enrollment situation for the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019. In the fall of 2021, he entered a degree seeking program as a full time community college student.
Both are my dependents and eligible for Education Credits as I understand it, but none of this tells me how to answer the question about what to consider the first year of college as of January 1, 2021 to be, except possibly your statement about my student(s) not having attended in 2020, which was information I had not previously provided.
