Figured it out!
My university (I'm a funded grad student) sent out my 1098-T and because my spring financial aid/tuition payment was disbursed Jan 4th isntead of late December, my form shows two semesters of tuition bills and only one semester of financial aid. This is fine this year (TurboTax says it gives me a refund of ~$1700) but next year that means it will show two semesters of tution bills (~$25k/semester) and three semesters of financial aid (also ~25k/semester). When I plug those numbers into TurboTax to see approximately what would happen next year, it says I'll owe $3800 dollars in federal tax and $1500 in state tax.
I've been talking to the bursar's office at my school but so far they say it's not their problem my program paid me late and to talk to a tax preparer about it. I don't really want to pay someone to do my taxes, but I also don't want to pay $2600 more in taxes because of this screwup. Does anyone have any idea how to report this on my taxes or how to get my school to amend the form?
(this is tempting but maybe not smart: my dad pointed out I could just fill out the tax forms as if it had all been normal and that it is exceedingly unlikely that I will get audited. I like forms and rules so I am uncomfortable with this but will do it if it's the only way to save me $2600)
