I do not know what your locale is in the United States but loan amounts can vary dramatically depending upon where you live. During my tenure with student government at my university, I successfully lobbied the state legislature to increase the state student loan amount from $4000/year to $8000/year. I took the entire loan amount as well as the maximum Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans - and anything else I could find. I received quite a bit of negative feedback from the financial aid department for my choice to do so. Here's what I did:

First of all, I quit working to dedicate myself to my studies. Second, I took the first semester's money - which there was significantly more than I needed, and made a down payment on two mobile homes. I lived in the smaller one and rented out the second one. Next semester, I made down payments on two more in the same park and rented them out to students. I continued to do this throughout my college years.

When I left college, I sold the mobile homes that were paid off (there were five) and paid off my student loans in full within six months (It took six months to sell them all). That left me with seven in various states of being paid off. As they became paid off I sold them, often to the students who had paid them off for me, and finished my financial aid experiment up $38,000 after paying for college.

The loans that are available to you while you are in school are the cheapest loans you are likely to get in your lifetime - take advantage of them. Many students get into financial trouble because they use the money to party, waste, etc., but it is hard to go wrong using the money as an investment.