I'm thinking that if married couple makes too much to get any Tuition Tax Credits for their college kid, is there any reason why I wouldn't just take the kid off their list of dependents? The college student would file his/her own tax return and be eligible for the $1800 of Stimulus Payments, right? The parents would only lose the $500 dependent credit.

Same goes for a couple with a disabled adult child getting Social Security. Why wouldn't I just file the child's return as not being a dependent of anyone else and make him/her eligible for the $1800. 

And... it absolutely makes sense for the student who graduated last spring. He is technically eligible to be his parents' dependent because he was still in college for 5 months... but he gets the $1800 if he's not... and they only lose $500.

I recognize that if we're talking about a 17-year old high school student, he/she can't possibly be considered eligible because his parents still provide over half his support and, even if they don't show him as a dependent, he probably wouldn't qualify for a Stimulus Payment.

Am I missing something here?