Q. Do 2024 loan payments count as Tuition Expenses?
A. No.
Q. I'm just confused if there is a difference between paying tuition directly or through a student loan (multiple years ago too)?
A. Yes & no. There is no difference in paying tuition directly or through student loans, in the year you take the college courses. You (or you parents) get to claim the tuition credit, at that time, no matter where the money came from.* But you cannot claim later loan payments as tuition payments. You (or you parents) should have claim those credits back in 2014-19 (and probably did). The college issued form 1098-T to assist in that process, just like bank issuing form 1098-E allows you to claim the loan interest this year.
As others have said, there is a current year student loan interest deduction. You deduct only the interest paid (not the total payment). Technically, it's an adjustment to income. So, you get the adjustment (deduction) even if you don't itemize deductions. You get it in addition to your standard (or itemized) deduction. The deduction is maxed at $2500 per year. If you entered your 1098-E correctly, in TurboTax, you got this deduction. It shows up on line 21 of Schedule 1 and then to line 10 of form 1040 (with any other Schedule 1 adjustments).
*Special rules apply for scholarship money or employer assistance.
