Called the school. The numbers are higher than I was expecting because it accounts for all payments in fall 2018 AN spring 2019 and all scholarships/grants for the same period. AND, the tuition waiver is part of the amount included in the scholarships box (box 5).
If that’s the case, how does the IRS know which part of that reported total scholarship is A) for 2018 and B) taxable or not and C) a waiver and not a scholarship?
Box 2 is no longer in use. Box 1 shows the amount to compare to Box 5 scholarships. You’ll need to do some math to determine whether the Box 5 amount includes the $1,750 - my guess is yes, because Box 1 is $1k+ less than the Box 1 tuition, and the tuition waiver would match the tuition amount.
I never used the 1098-T numbers. I used the numbers on the bills from the universities plus any outside scholarships that were received (my kids each had one). I kept the tax years separate and paid the spring fees, if any, in the spring. The schools billed in Dec (which of course made the 1098-T wrong) but the schools never credited anything until Jan so I just kept everything in the right tax year.
It worked for me.