I was a grad student a least half of 2018, loan amount/educational expense 12K, income 24k, i was expecting 2K life time credit but it is only 1300, I need help.

[Vanessa · Accepted solution]

The Lifetime Learning Credit is a nonrefundable credit.  This means it will only reduce your tax to $0, it will not give you a refund if it is more than your tax shown on line 11. 

Since your income was $24,000, if you were single your taxable income would be $12,000 once subtracting the standard deduction which is $12,000.  Tax on $12,000 from the tax table is $1,253.  This means your credit cannot be more than $1,253.