Does payment for room and board as part of being a resident assistant/community leader count in box 5 as scholarship/grant? But not count towards box 1?

[americanmephotography]

Went back to the university for detailed calculations of the 1098-T since we ended up paying over $13,000 throughout the year and box 1/box 5 are now almost identical even though we paid that amount. They came back stating that they applied the amount paid for being a resident assistant/community leader for room and board to box 5, but not to box 1. In previous years, while receiving GI Bill, the amounts being almost equal made sense. However, this year, while receiving no GI Bill Benefits for the fall semester and paying out of pocket, it doesnt make sense that the amounts are still fairly equal.

[ThomasM125]

The amounts reported as scholarship income in box 5 should not be applied towards the education expenses reported in box 1, since they are for room and board. When you enter your Form 1098-T, you can indicate that on the screen that says Did You Pay for Room and Board with a Scholarship or Grant?:

[Hal_Al]

Scholarships that pay for qualified educational expenses (QEE - tuition, fees, books and other course materials) is tax free.  Scholarship amounts that exceed QEE is taxable income, on the student’s tax return. Room & board (R&B) are not QEE.

If box 5 of the 1098-T exceeds box 1, TurboTax (TT) will treat the difference as taxable income, unless you enter additional QEE at books and other expenses.

Since you know that some of the amount, in box 5, is taxable, because it was designated for R&B, you must tell TurboTax that. The way you do that is as ThomasM125 described.  The good news is that that will free up some of the tuition so that you can use it to claim the Tuition credit.