For the purpose of determining whether a parent can claim a child under 24 as a dependent, a full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses that the school considers to be full-time attendance.
To qualify as a student, the person must be, during some part of each of any five 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 five calendar months do not have to be consecutive.
This information is found in the Personal Exemptions and Dependents chapter of Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax.
You might check with the school as to whether they consider those enrolled full-time students until after May 1st. Otherwise, it sounds as if the program of study was completed before May 1st.
See this TurboTax tips article for more information regarding claiming dependents.
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