Is there an exception for receiving an early pension distribution and using it for tuition for yourself? I only see information pertaining to an IRA.

[dmertz]

No.  The high-education expense exception to an early-distribution penalty only applies to distributions from IRAs, not to distributions from qualified retirement plans.  Had the money first been rolled over from the qualified retirement plan to an IRA and then the distribution used for the qualified higher-education expenses taken from the IRA, the penalty exception would have applied.