NAJAM, J.
[A]t the hearing on Mother’s petition, Father asked the court to consider Indiana Child Support Guideline 8(b), which provides in relevant part:
Current provisions of the Internal Revenue Code provide tax credits and preferences which will subsidize the cost of a child’s post-secondary education. While tax planning on the part of all parties will be needed to maximize the value of these subsidies, no one party should disproportionately benefit from the tax treatment of post-secondary expenses. Courts may consider who may be entitled to claim various education tax benefits and tax exemptions for the minor child(ren) and the total value of the tax subsidies prior to assigning the financial responsibility of post-secondary expenses to the parents and the child.
(Emphases added). Father asked that the dissolution court assign financial responsibility to each party such that Mother would not disproportionately benefit from the tax credit. Father asked that he be given a setoff in proportion to the amount of Mother’s tax credit.
. . . .
Here, the dissolution court determined, and the parties do not dispute, that their respective shares of E.F.’s college expenses, which correspond to their respective incomes, are as follows: Father shall pay 64%, and Mother shall pay 36%. The parties agree that their portion of E.F.’s college expenses totals $11,500, so Father is responsible for $7370 and Mother is responsible for $4133. Father presented evidence that Mother is entitled to a $4000 tax credit for her contributions toward E.F.’s college expenses. Because the dissolution court did not give Father a setoff commensurate with Mother’s tax credit, Mother’s effective contribution is approximately $140, or approximately 1% of the parties’ portion of the expenses, while Father’s contribution is $7370, or 64%.
The dissolution court cannot have intended this result. We believe the dissolution court misinterpreted the language in Guideline 8, which expressly states that the court “may consider who may be entitled to claim various education tax benefits . . . and the total value of the tax subsidies prior to assigning the financial responsibility of post-secondary expenses to the parents and the child.” (Emphases added). We read that guideline as authorizing the dissolution court to provide Father a setoff commensurate with Mother’s tax credit. We agree with Father that the tax credit to Mother is akin to a source of financial aid, and Indiana Code Section 31-16-6-2(a)(1)(B) provides that an educational support order shall take into account “the ability of each parent to meet [the] expenses” and the ability to procure “sources of financial aid reasonably available to the child and each parent.” Indeed, Guideline 8 expressly considers the tax credit a federal subsidy.
Mother does not dispute Father’s valuation of her tax credit at $4000. We remand to the dissolution court and instruct the court to first consider the reduction in the parents’ obligation toward E.F.’s college expenses realized by Mother’s tax credit and then apportion Father’s and Mother’s obligations accordingly. Should the dissolution court want to maintain the 65-35 split and grant Father a setoff to produce that result, the court would be so authorized under Guideline 8.
BAKER, C.J., and MATHIAS, J., concur.