Wife has acquired her Masters in 2008. At the beginning of 2008, she had completed one and a quarter of her time toward her degree. She has never attended a four year college as described in the instructions.

All tax returns have been filed on a joint basis, and no Hope Credit was taken in previous years.

In the IRS instructions for Hope Credit it uses the word "generally" which would indicate there were exceptions to the general rule. I feel my case is an exception. Am I correct?

Are you talking about the following:

Who Is an Eligible Student
To claim the Hope credit, the student for whom you pay qualified education expenses must be an eligible student. This is a student who meets all of the following requirements.

- The student did not have expenses that were used to figure a Hope credit in any 2 earlier tax years.

- The student had not completed the first 2 years of postsecondary education (generally, the freshman and sophomore years of college) before 2008.

- For at least one academic period beginning in 2008, the student was enrolled at least half-time in a program leading to a degree, certificate, or other recognized educational credential.

- The student has not been convicted of any federal or state felony for possessing or distributing a controlled substance as of the end of 2008.


Completion of first 2 years. A student who was awarded 2 years of academic credit for postsecondary work completed before 2008 has completed the first 2 years of postsecondary education. This student generally would not be an eligible student for purposes of the Hope credit.

Exception. Any academic credit awarded solely on the basis of the student's performance on proficiency examinations is disregarded in determining whether the student has completed 2 years of postsecondary education.

I got this from Publication 970 (2008), Tax Benefits for Education

So the question is - how did your wife get into a master's program without attending college? If it was not based on previous course work, it seems she qualifies fore the credit.