Any parent with a college-bound kid knows that aside from test scores and debate team accomplishments, the biggest factor is money. OK, if your kid is a Gates or a Buffett, maybe not. Otherwise, the task of navigating tuition, scholarships and loans hangs heavy over the entire college process. But experts urge parents to seek out information about their plan of attack as early as their student's sophomore year of high school.

"The traditional model of 'get into the best college you can, and then figure out how to pay for it,' doesn't work anymore," says Kal Chany, author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" ($16.99 at Books-A-Million, www.booksamillion.com) and head of Campus Consultants, which offers a $1,550 service to help families get the best financial aid packages. With higher education being so expensive and the financial aid system so complicated and ever changing, he says a professional financial aid consultant can help families navigate this process to get the best deals.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: DON'T DELAY ON APPLYING FOR AID

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the form the government uses to determine loans and grants, should be submitted as early as Jan. 1 (ideally by Feb. 15, and definitely no later than March 1) of the student's senior year of high school. However, Chany advises families to seek out expert help during the student's junior year in high school to identify schools to apply to and to make financial moves that can affect aid packages. "If you come to me after Jan. 1 of the junior year, it is like coming to a doctor after you've been identified as having stage four cancer - there isn't a whole lot you can do at that point," Chany says.

HIRING A FINANCIAL AID CONSULTANT

High-end services such as Chany's offer a variety of benefits, including strategies for maximizing eligibility. Examples include selling assets such as stocks, funds and real estate before Jan. 1 of your student's junior year of high school (because that calendar year's tax returns are what are considered for his or her freshman year in college). Another tip is to schedule any elective or postponable medical procedures for after Jan. 1 of that junior year, if applying for schools that consider family members' medical hardships in their financial packages.

But Chany says that the other value is in the form of broader strategizing. For example, he'll help you identify second- and third-tier schools that may offer better talent-based scholarships than higher-ranked schools to which your student may be accepted.

Chany likens his service to that of a certified public accountant who spends his or her days navigating the complicated and often arcane tax system to advocate for the best tax bill for the client. Likewise, his expertise can help families work within the rules of the process to get the best financial aid package they qualify for. "You have to do a cost-benefit analysis, but in most cases, it makes sense," he says. "But if you are applying to a community college, it doesn't make sense to hire me."

Jim Simmons of Menlo Park, Calif., hired Chany for the youngest of his two sons, both of whom attended Ivy League schools. He was so impressed with the value of the service, which he said netted savings of "several times the fee," that he hired Chany each of the four years his youngest son attended university. "Applying for college requires so much money, and there are so many rules and details involved that there is no way an average person can know everything," Simmons says, adding, "And I'm a detailed, analytical person."