If you changed the wording to "If someone went to school for 4 years and obtained a degree before the credits were available . . ." then I would agree with you.

There are several limitations in play.  The student must be working on an undergraduate degree.  The credit cannot be taken in more than 4 tax years.  Most undergrads are in school for at least 5 tax years and usually you take 1-4, but you can also take 2-5.

Lots of factors in terms of planning, I generally say grab it when you can.  So if you can max out the $2K of free money, take it even if you can't get all the way up to $2,500.  If you spent $600 on a class at community college though, rather than spend one of your 4 tokens to get $600, you might want to wait until year 5 when you have a full time load and can get $2K-2.5K.

Rick