Education credits are based on expenses paid in the tax year. You can pre-pay up to 3 months. (pay in December for Jan classes) and claim the payment in the year the payment was made, but you can't go backward.
If you paid in 2017 for 2018 classes, you can only report those expenses on your 2017 return.
According to the IRS:
Prepaid expenses.
“Qualified
education expenses paid in 2018 for an academic period that begins in the first
3 months of 2019 can be used in figuring an education credit for 2018 only. See
Academic period, earlier. For
example, if you pay $2,000 in December 2018 for qualified tuition for the 2019
winter quarter that begins in January 2019, you can use that $2,000 in figuring
an education credit for 2018 only (if you meet all the other requirements).
You can't use any
amount you paid in 2017 or 2019 to figure the qualified education expenses you
use to figure your 2018 education credit(s).”
CLICK HERE for IRS Pub 970 Education Credits
