@harterpk - TT automatically does it because credits are more valuable than deductions.
In the 'worst case' scenanario, AOTC would create $2500 of tax relief while even if Box 1= Box 2 on the 1099Q, the most it would cost you is $4000 of deductions at the highest rate of 37% or $1480 of tax relief, hence it will always default to using AOTC as part of its optimization.
