Agreed! My child's 1098-T for 2018 was totally messed up. The amount in Box 5 was okay, but not Box 1. They are so terrified of "giving tax" advice that I could not get them to explain how they arrived at the amount in Box 1. It seemed pretty simple to me - tuition plus 2 other fees should have been the total - but it wasn't.
It is only now after receiving the 2019 1098-T that I see that the two different years add up to make the correct total for box 1. But, there is no rhyme nor reason how they arrived at the figures in Box 1 for either year! It looked completely arbitrary. And, now it looks like my student got a ton of scholarship with very little expenses.
So, if my child doesn't have to report it, will they get in trouble if the government sees this imbalance caused by what I think is an artifact of reporting? I'd love to make the school give me corrected 1098-Ts, but I know they won't.
