<p>The Fall 2010 semester is ‘year 1’. You don’t have a choice to not count this as the first year of college for purposes of the education credits.</p>
<p>Amounts paid in 2011 for Spring 2011*, Summer 2011 and Fall 2011 semesters are ‘year 2’.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, you could purchase books and pay tuition and fees for *Spring 2011 by December 2010 in order to include these amounts instead in the calculation of the credit you claim on your 2010 tax return.</p>
<p>(I think living at home is a smart thing to do).</p>