No, it is not mandatory that you claim the student loan interest deduction. That is, you do not have to enter your 1098-E.
The IRS isn't accepting tax returns until Feb 12, so don't be in a hurry to file. Although it may appear that TurboTax lets you e-file earlier, your return only sits on a server until the IRS grabs it. If you need to change something, you cannot get it back. The IRS will process a hand full of returns earlier for Test purposes.
