@Hal_Al @TaxGuyBill I based my answer on the fact that the student can be claimed but wasn't. That enables the non-refundable part of the credit, which is why $2000 of tuition (or even $1000) would zero out the $500 or $800 of income tax. The student would not be eligible for the refundable part, but here, zeroing out the tax is still a good outcome.
