What about a lap top and ipad that I had to have for a doctorate program?

[MaryK4]

Generally, if your computer is a necessary requirement for enrollment or attendance at an educational institution, the IRS deems it a qualifying expense.  It would be rare to use the expense as part of an education credit, but possible if the doctorate required the computer and the expenses were paid directly to the school.  See Internal Revenue Manual  21.6.3.4.1.5.1 (10-07-2015).  The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) is an official compendium of internal guidelines for personnel of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which is what the IRS uses when examining claims.

There is also a federal law 26 CFR Section 1.162-5 that allows as a deductible business expense if it maintains or improves skills required by an individual in his employment or other trade or business or meets the requirements of your employer, you would be able to deduct as an ordinary and necessary business expense if you are self-employed, or your employer could deduct on your behalf.  

So it is possible to deduct under certain circumstances.  

 [Edited 02/24/2021 | 6:47 PM PST]

[Opus 17]

No.

There are several different tax benefits for college, with different rules and the situations where you can actually get a tax benefit for buying a computer are extremely limited. 

1. The only tax credit that applies to graduate school is the Lifetime Learning Credit, and for the LLC, the only costs beside tuition that are eligible are:

Related expenses. Student activity fees and expenses for course-related books, supplies, and equipment are in- cluded in qualified education expenses only if the fees and expenses must be paid to the institution for enrollment or attendance.

So a computer would only qualify if you were required to buy it from the school as a condition of enrollment.

2. For the American Opportunity Credit (which only applies to undergraduate studies), eligible "related expenses" include books and equipment required for a course of study even if not purchased directly from the school. 

3. If you receive a scholarship, it is tax-free up to the cost of tuition and related qualified expenses.  After that, a scholarship is taxable.  "Related expenses" means 

• Course-related expenses, such as fees, books, supplies, and equipment that are required for the courses at the eligible educational institution. These items must be required of all students in your course of instruction.

 4. If you pay for college with a qualified tuition plan (QTP) such as a 529 account, it uses the same definition of related expenses as for scholarships.

So for scholarships and QTPs, the school must require that all students in a particular course of instruction must buy a computer that meets their requirements.