Education

@NCperson @Hal_Al This is confusing as I think I qualify under the IRS rules I looked at, and I would also think I qualify for the spirit/intentions of this credit, but you suggest that I do not.  Thank you for taking the time to respond and I wanted to do the same for others who may be in similar situations.  So, to answer your questions:

• I am between 18 and 24 and was off at college. 
• My parents are alive but realized that they did not send me any financial support in 2021 so they told me they were not claiming me as a dependent and I should claim myself when I do my taxes. I am single.
• I dropped some classes so only ended up taking 9 hours, which is NOT considered full time at my school.  But yes, I was in college for 5 months - and I started out full time so I thought of myself as a full time student. Only for taxes did I realize that technically I wasn't.  (You may remember, Spring 2021 - and Fall 2020 - was during Covid lockdown - at schools. I was new to living on my own and I did not do well at all with the forced isolation, living in a room by myself for 9 months and basically never being able to leave (classes online) except to eat, again by myself per the rules of the facility.)
• Yes, box 8 is checked on my 1098-T

So, do I qualify?  From the IRS:

Who is an eligible student for AOTC?

To be eligible for AOTC, the student must:

• Be pursuing a degree or other recognized education credential - YES
• Be enrolled at least half time for at least one academic period* beginning in the tax year - YES
• Not have finished the first four years of higher education at the beginning of the tax year - YES
• Not have claimed the AOTC or the former Hope credit for more than four tax years - YES
• Not have a felony drug conviction at the end of the tax year - YES

And I certainly don't exceed the income limits further down the page.

Regarding the TurboTax explanation under AOTC:

You cannot claim the American opportunity credit if:
- your filing status is married filing separately
- you're claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer
- your modified adjusted gross income is $90,000 or more ($180,000 or more in the case of a joint return)
- you or anyone else claims the lifetime learning credit for the same student in 2021.

I don't fail under any of these.  So, I couldn't figure out why I wasn't eligible and Googled to see if there was a software problem, finding this link.  Based on your comments, the issue must be over the definition of full time student and another issue you bring up is if my earned income was less than half my support. 

My earned income during 2021 was less than half my support, but the rest of my support was savings from earnings in previous years.  Again, my parents did not provide me any financial support in 2021, but my earnings during 2021 still provided less than half.  I answered the question honestly.  But you seem to be saying that the IRS allows the credit if I earned the money in the same year, but not if I earned the money in prior years.  That doesn't seem right.

After reading this post - and seeing the issue others found with full time - I went back and looked at it and thought about it more carefully.  Based on my "Covid" class drops, technically I was not a full-time student.  But furthermore, for those others in this post who selected the same, someone who is full-time is "At least half-time".  So that is not an incorrect answer.

I think I am OK given my actual status change.  But I certainly don't want to risk doing anything wrong.