My son graduated from college in May. We paid $17,000 in tuition for Spring 2023. He took a job in July that paid him $40,000 from Aug to Dec. Can I claim him or tuition?

If he paid more than half of his support for the year you can’t claim him or the education credit. But he could claim that credit even though you paid the tuition. 

If your son was a full-time student for five months of the year, he can be claimed as your student dependent, even though he earned over the dependent income amount later that year, as long as he did not provide over half of his own support.  

If he lived with you all year, then there's no question, he's a dependent.  If he moved out and paid all his own expenses after he started working in July (half the year), then he may not be your dependent.

If you do claim him as your dependent, you can claim any out-of-pocket Education Expenses you paid for him.

You might want to try preparing your and his returns both ways (dependent/non-dependent, where he claims his Education Expenses) to see which benefits your family the most.

Here's more info on Rules for Claiming Dependents and What does Financially Support Mean?

@rmacoe