Think your college boards were hard? What about those college financial-aid offers? They can make your SATs look like Scrabble Junior.

If you were accepted by several schools, there's a good chance you also received offers of financial aid. Comparing them isn't easy. The award letters typically contain combinations of scholarships, grants, work-study and loans.

Some schools' formulas to calculate the amount they expect your family to pay conflict with other schools' formulas. And time is running out: Most colleges want an answer by May 1 — and yes, that's only a weekend away.

Your task is to figure out, dispassionately, which offer is the best deal. Start by breaking out the major sources of financial aid, which include:

GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS

This is the most valuable type of financial aid, because the money doesn't have to be paid back. Direct aid typically comes in two forms: scholarships and need-based grants, says Kalman Chany, author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke."

Some schools characterize grants as "scholarships" because they sound more impressive, says Robert Clagett, dean of admissions for Middlebury College in Vermont. But it's important to understand the difference.

Most scholarships are guaranteed, sometimes for all four years, as long as you meet certain conditions, such as maintaining a high grade point average, says Gerard Cebrzynski, financial aid director for Lake Forest College in Chicago.

A grant, on the other hand, is almost always based on financial need. If your family's finances improve after your freshman year, the grant could shrink, Cebrzynski says. "Long term, a scholarship is a better deal."

Distinguishing between scholarships and grants is particularly important if you have an older sibling now in college, Chany says. Once that sibling graduates, your grant might diminish or disappear.

LOANS, WORK-STUDY

College financial-aid offices call this type of aid "self-help." That's a polite way of saying that you're either going to have to work for the money or pay it back.

Under the federal work-study program, you earn money toward college by working a part-time job. Your work-study earnings won't be counted as income for purposes of future financial aid, Chany says. Income from other jobs will.

You're not required to work at all, but if you decline work-study, you'll need to find another source of funds to make up the difference.

The rest of your self-help package consists of loans. Types of loans: