Oldest kid is about to graduate college and go to nursing school. She will be paying for nursing school herself. What are the advantages/disadvantages of claiming vs not claiming her as a dependent. I know you take a pretty big hit in terms of tax credits once kids turn 17, so would it really impact me that much with her being 22 now?

My thought for not claiming her is maybe she is more likely to get financial aid...is that legit?

If she is paying for nursing school, will those funds come from her working or from some other source such as her savings? Reason being if she will be working and going to school, you need to be sure you are providing more than half her support.

I was looking for the same information recently and what I found online seems like a bunch of flimsy double talk or at best it's all poorly described

We said to hell with it, she's independent now

I don't recall the exact benefit for us to claim her but ultimately we decided it's not worth the hastle. Maybe it was something like $500?

Tell her to join the military and get them to pay for medical school.

That's our son's plan. Fortunately, this nursing program for our daughter isn't "debt-riden" expensive.

IIRC FAFSA still considers parents until like 22 or 23. So claiming them or not might not affect student aid. Should be easy to check.

I remember when i was in grad school that one year finally hit and my numbers got better, even though my parents stopped claiming me when i stated grad school. Thinking about it now, it might be 24?

~egon

Benefit you lose - $500 credit for a dependent. Also, if she is your dependent, then you can use her tuition to grad school to get the lifetime learning credit (if you are under the income threshold - 180k). Its not much of a credit, but it is something.

She, on the other hand, will get the lifetime learning credit as long as she is employed.

Often, in this situation, we run it both ways to see which is best overall. it can swing either way and there is not a clear cut answer unless you make more than that threshhold.