@laralei nope, not sure where you read that taxable scholarships are treated as earned income. They are only treated as earned income for the purpose of determining the standard deduction, they can not be used to determine support and are considered unearned income and subject to the kiddie tax. The current tax law uses the parents’ income level to determine the tax rate, the new tax law uses the standard rate for trusts. If taxable scholarships were considered earned income they wouldn’t have made a specific change in the new tax law.
Here’s a good article explaining the history of taxable scholarships
https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2016/apr/kiddie-tax-may-be-due-on-college-scholarships.html
The only thing that has changed in the new law is that taxable scholarships will be taxed at the rate fixed for trusts.