Lifelong learning credit

[wareagle107]

I'm a little confused about the Lifelong Learning Credit and was wondering if anyone could advise.  

I received the LLC in 2017 while working full time (earned about 23K) and having a total of about $7K in college tuition expenses (part time student).  The tax credit awarded was $1300 out of a possible $2000.

In 2018, I only worked during the spring/summer (earning about 14K), but then I started grad school full-time, with $+10K in tuition expenses.  But now, Turbo Tax is telling me that my LLC is only about $100, less than 10% of the value for 2017.  

If my tuition expenses went up, why would the credit value drop?  Aside from the decrease in my income due to no longer working, no other factors changed since last year.  Thanks in advance for any advice!

[IsabellaG]

If your income was only around $14,000, you wouldn't receive much of a Lifetime Learning Credit. With a Standard Deduction of $12,000, your taxable income would be around $2000.   The LLC is not refundable. So, you can use the credit to pay any tax you owe but you won't receive any of the credit back as a refund. 

[wareagle107]

That makes sense, and I suppose that would have changed last year since the cutoff for single filers nearly doubled (6K to 12K).  Last year I did receive nearly $1000 more as a refund than I paid in taxes (2600 credit to 1600 paid in taxes)... did that come from other credits which can exceed the amount of tax paid?  Thanks for your help!