Have children in college or heading for college? Whatever you do, don't drop the ball on financial aid.

The earlier you start your financial aid research, the better. Not all available financial aid is based on need either. Scholarships may depend upon such factors as a student's grades, class ranking or activities.

Scholarship money often lies in places you might not immediately consider. For example, who would think that a child might qualify for a scholarship just for being left-handed? Yet, such a needs-based scholarship is available to students of Juniata College, Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, which asks on its application whether students are left-handed. The school's two available scholarships for left-handed students are designed to commemorate the way their husband and wife benefactors met. The lefties were paired together on a tennis court.

The greatest mistake that families make in attempting to qualify for college financial aid is assuming they won't qualify, says Thomas Ball, director of financial aid for Saint Vincent College, in Latrobe. Thus, they don't apply. Or, they might limit the places to which they apply. The college financial aid office is not your only option, and your search for college financial aid definitely should not stop there.

Even if a child has already been rejected for financial aid, don't give up the ship. For one thing, parents who have a second child headed into college at the same time as a first child get a change in financial aid formulas, Ball notes.

So even though you missed out the first time, you could strike gold when your second child applies. Also, there are an abundance of local, regional and national scholarships unaffiliated either with your college or the state or federal governments.

One critical issue in applying for college financial aid, however, is meeting the application deadline. And depending upon the financial aid you seek, deadlines may vary. It might be a good idea to apply for your financial aid online to ensure that you file on time. Make sure you keep a copy of whatever you send in. When you talk to people in college financial aid offices, be sure to get the name and title of the person you spoke with, and take notes on your conversation. Get the correct code of the college to which you're applying.

Tip: Use the Internet as much as you can to find out information about outside scholarships. Websites to check include www.fastweb.com, www.pheaamentor.org, www.wiredscholar.com, www.srnexpress.com and www.finaid.com. Other helpful sites: The U.S. Department of Education at www.ed.gov and www.collegeboard.com.

Beware of a wave of scholarship scams. You probably should not be paying any money upfront for scholarship money.

"A lot of people just assume that if they want to think about gift aid or scholarship grants, they should go right to the school," Ball said. However, there are many other organizations that offer scholarships -- including employers, your church or religious organizations and other community organizations. Not only that, but financial aid could vary at local, regional and national levels. So even if a local organization has no scholarship money available, perhaps the regional or parent organization does, or vice versa.

In filling out your application for financial aid, don't get confused. Too many parents list retirement assets on federal student loan applications because those may be the only assets they have. Yet, the federal government typically does not consider parents' retirement accounts for its student loans. Listing the wrong types of assets on your child's financial aid application could unnecessarily disqualify him or her from financial aid.

Many parents also make the mistake of putting their assets in their child's name when they apply for financial aid. It's usually easier to qualify for financial aid if you keep the assets in the parents' name, Ball says. However he warns that keeping assets titled in the parents' name might not necessarily be the wisest action for tax or other financial considerations, so it is a good idea to also run this issue by your accountant and/or attorney.

Financial aid formulas, he says, typically are weighted more to look at the parents' income, rather than assets, and to look at the students' assets rather than income. So the goal to qualify for financial aid typically is to keep parents' income low and student assets low.

Meanwhile, if you're searching in a lot of different places for college financial aid, be sure you check with your college to see what impact an outside grant might have on any financial aid you get directly from the college, Ball suggests.

Say a child gets a $500 scholarship through a local religious organization due to his or her resourcefulness. Some schools might add the grant to the student's account and possibly reduce a student loan amount by that amount.

But other private colleges, in particular, might reduce their private grants by that amount.

When applying to colleges, learn the school's policy upfront. Will any outside scholarship money the student receives reduce the private aid the college is providing?

"Your goal should make a student's first year away at college as attractive as possible," Ball said. "So it's best if you can keep the number of financial surprises you and your child receive to a minimum."