You would only need to file a tax return if your excess (taxable) scholarship (plus any other income) was more than $12,550 (2021filing threshold). So, you do not need to file a return with only $10,799 of taxable scholarship.
But, you should be aware that there is a tax “loop hole” available. The student reports all his scholarship, up to the amount needed to claim the American Opportunity Credit (AOC), as income on his return. That way, the parents (or himself, if he is not a dependent) can claim the tuition credit on their return. They can do this because that much tuition was no longer paid by "tax free" scholarship. You cannot do this if the school’s billing statement specifically shows the scholarships being applied to tuition or if the conditions of the grant are that it be used to pay for qualified expenses.
Using an example: Student has $26,000 in box 5 of the 1098-T and $15,000 in box 1. At first glance he/she has $11,000 of taxable income and nobody can claim the American opportunity credit. But if she reports $15,000 as income on her return, the parents can claim $4000 of qualified expenses on their return.
Books and computers are also qualifying expenses for the AOC. So, extending the example, the student had another $1000 in expenses for those course materials, paid out of pocket, she would only need to report $14,000 of taxable scholarship income, instead of $15,000.
Your parents can collect as much as $2500 for the education credit while you only pay about $250 in tax.
