I, an independent full-time student over the age of 24 who can not be claimed as a dependent by anybody, had scholarships/grants exceed the cost of my tuition by about $7,500 in 2025. My grant/scholarship money does not specify that it is required to go toward tuition. Therefore, is it still possible for me to claim the AOTC by taxing the full amount of my scholarship/grant money? If so, is this done by allotting the full amount of my grants/scholarships as "amount paid toward room and board" on the TurboTax platform? Does it matter if I did not actually make a payment of tuition, since my university deducted the cost of tuition from my scholarship/grants and disbursed the excess grant money to me? Is taxing my full scholarship/grant amount meant to compensate for this?
Additionally, I have been paying back a debt I owe to a different university for tuition for a course. I paid $120 toward this debt last year. Would this be included in my educational expenses? I did not get a 1098-T from this school. Should I therefore add this amount to my educational expenses on top of my tuition from the university I attended last year?
