Do both parents and students enter the 1098t

If your parents claim you as a dependent, they will enter the 1098-T, if they are not, then you will enter it.

Q. Do both parents and students enter the 1098-T?

A. Sometimes, yes.

If the student is the parent's dependent, the parent is the only one who can claim a tuition credit.  Since that is the usual situation, usually only the parent enters the 1098-T.

If a portion of the student's scholarship is taxable, the student will also have to enter the 1098-T to properly account for the taxable scholarship.  If the student takes a distribution from a 529 plan, he may have to enter the 1098-T to account for expenses and calculate the taxable portion of the distribution (if any).

There are three things you can do with your Qualified educational expenses (QEE):

1. Allocate then to scholarships (so that the scholarship remains tax free)
2. Use them to claim an education credit
3. Allocate them to the 529 distribution (1099-Q) so that it will not all be taxable

You are allowed some leeway, in how you allocate QEE, for the best tax benefit.