idiot before me painted the door handles
 

And now the paint is caked over the buttons you use for keyless entry. I tried using paint thinner on a rag and rubbing but no luck. Any suggestions on how to strip them without damaging the chrome underneath?

Probably best to replace them or get them chemical cleaned like they do before a power coat I believe.

Im on a college student budget lol I know theres a home remedy for something so small

There's industrial paint remover, but that stuff is so strong that it'll screw up the finish on the handles once the paint is off. You don't wanna soak it cause it'll mess up the electronics in the handle. I don't know cause there's a lot of tight little crevices in the handle where the paint has probably built up at.

Here's what you want to do. The handle is held in by two bolts covered by rubber grommets. There are instructions on how to remove your door handles, just do a quick search.

The button is held onto the activator with only a few screws. You'll want to remove the button from the door handles and clean it off as a separate part. DO NOT try to fix this while everything assembled. You will muck things up worse than they are now. Take the time to take everything apart and you should be able to manually remove enough paint material to get it to move freely within the assembly.

Good luck.

Another way is to carefully use an exacto knife to cut a crease in the paint where the button is. Just be carefull not to chip the paint.