Filing taxes? (Sons first year of college)

You don’t get anything for AOTC just because of the boxes 2 and 5 of 1098T. It is just information the college provides (although from 2016 on I believe a 1098T form is required if you want to claim AOTC).

You claim the credit by providing the amount of qualified education expenses (QEE) you paid during the tax year.

So for example if box 2, billed tuition and related fees is higher than box 5 scholarships and grants, then you can claim that amount as qualified tuition and fees for AOTC. But you can also add the cost of textbooks.

And you can also treat some of the scholarships as taxable and have the student include them on his tax return as income and then claim more for QEE for the AOTC.

Read IRS publication 970. https://www.irs.gov/uac/About-Publication-970