1098 and tax years

With 2 in college our aid has changed and while that is very helpful, doing taxes has become more confusing!

Spring tuition is billed in November and is due in December. Aid is dispersed in January. The 1098’s do not reflect what we paid vs. what we were billed. For the sake of discussion, if I was billed 25k and 10K in aid was being awarded in January, I sent a check for 15K in 2016. The school/1098 says I was billed 25K in QEE, but does not include the 2017 anticipated aid in the scholarship total. I plan to report that I was billed 15k in QEE (so less than school reported) and paid 15k. Then next year I plan to carry over the remaining 10k billed that was paid by the 10k in aid.

Is this the way it is supposed to be done? Hopefully I am explaining it correctly. I just want to be accurate, consistent, and not have an unbalanced total senior year.

You can claim it the way you said if you paid $15k in 2016. 1098-t will report what was billing in 2016, not necessarily what was paid.