Save on College by Picking the Right School

Some schools also subtract outside awards from their own aid packages, making the scholarship essentially useless -- unless it is subtracted from interest-bearing loans.

Ask the school about its policy on outside awards. If there are no kinks, use the Web to find scholarships based on an array of factors, from merit and heritage, to essays and personal experience. The College Board site, along with Fastweb.com and Scholarships.com offer such tools. Guidance counselors can also flag the best awards for a particular student.

Still, O'Shaughnessy says the time spent searching and applying could be better spent.

"The effort should be in finding schools that could reward you financially for four years, which is significant, she says, "rather than $1,000 here or $2,000 there for a year and that's it."