The IRS says money paid is claimed in the year paid. This leads to scholarships paid and used. If you have a paper trail that shows the money was applied then you could. However, since you say tuition was billed in 2019, you can't take a credit for 2019 for bills paid if they were paid in 2020 with the scholarships. Go back to your 2019 return and see if you had the same situation of a carryover or if you need to amend your 2019 so that some of the tuition is actually a part of 2020. Your bursar account shows when things were paid.
The IRS says in Publication 970 (2020), Tax Benefits for Education | IRS: When figuring an education credit or tuition and fees deduction, use only the amounts you paid and are deemed to have paid during the tax year for qualified education expenses.
@norhanag
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