Hi Sprigged,
The amount of financial aid that you are awarded are based on your cost of attendance minus your expected family contribution; you have to be pretty poor to get grants. The amount of $ you can borrow each year is dependent on your classification:
Freshman can borrow up to $6500/year
Sophs up to $7500/year
Juniors and Seniors can borrow up to $10,500/year
You can borrow the full amount each year, the only requirement being that you are a FT student( amts are less for PT) until you reach the undergrad loan limit which is about $52,000.
These are the amounts for US schools-if you are borrowing $ in the US for a school abroad, I assume that the amounts are the same but I am not certain. Hope this is the info that you are looking for.
Liz