Full-Time Student
Categories: Education
What does it mean to be a full-time student? Well, it means lots of studying. It means writing papers and cramming for exams. It probably means a lot of coffee, late nights, and group projects where one person ends up doing eighty percent of the work. And in some cases, it means tax breaks.
It’s true: being a full-time student is actually a legal status that allows us, and possibly our parents or guardians, to take advantage of certain tax deductions and exemptions. Woo-hoo, right? Here’s how it works for folks over the age of 18: In most cases, a college student has to be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours per semester (or the equivalent if our school doesn’t do semesters). If we’re a dependent of someone else, like our parents, then they can claim certain tax deductions based on our school-going-ness. If we’re not someone’s dependent, like if we’re over 24 years old, or if we’re out there in the world on our own, then we get to claim those tax benefits. And when it comes to living the student life, any extra little bit of money we can get our hands on is a good thing.