If your student walked across a graduation stage this spring, there’s a valuable education tax credit we want you to know about.
The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) can be worth up to $2,500, and graduating seniors often qualify in their final year of school. Here’s the key: the IRS looks at whether a student has completed four years of post-secondary education before the start of the tax year, not whether they finished during it. A student who graduated in May entered January as a second-semester senior. That counts.
As long as your student was enrolled at least half-time for one academic period during the calendar year (a standard spring semester qualifies), the credit is on the table. Tuition, enrollment fees, and required course materials paid during 2026 can all factor in.
And here’s something that surprises a lot of families: if your graduate is going straight into a master’s or doctoral program this fall, those expenses may be bundled into the same year’s credit, as long as the AOTC hasn’t already been claimed for more than four prior tax years. The university will issue a Form 1098-T early next year that helps us verify what was paid and when.
If you have a student who graduated—or started grad school—this year, just let us know at tax time. This helps ensure nothing gets missed when we work on your 2026 filing.