1098T for final year of students education the scholarship exceeds the expenses

[joan]

Student received 1098T for the final spring semester for 2020 with scholarships exceeding the expenses because the expenses were paid for in December of 2019. How is this taxable to the student when the expenses exceeded the scholarships over the 4 year lifetime of being a student? 1098T forms were reported incorrectly up through 2017, meaning they did not allow for the tuition and scholarships to align. It shouldn't matter if they show excess scholarship in the final semester because the expenses were paid earlier.  How can this be addressed to protect these graduating students from erroneous income their first year of reality when the scholarship was used correctly.  Is there an entry line I am missing in Intuit program that allows for the timing of the expenses?

[dascpa]

You are correct.  The "timing" is always off when schools bill in December for Spring.  We used to have boxes for amounts billed and amounts paid, now only amounts paid so it "appears" with -0- tuition and positive scholarships.

Depending upon the situation I enter in the Student Information Worksheet room and board exactly equal to the scholarship (or actual if the kid lived off campus and paid rent) or I will enter in tuition (not on a 1098-T) to equal.  This forces the computer to reflect a net zero of expenses over scholarships.