Well I can only tell you how it works in Canada, which is probably different than the US.

When I went to college, my parents said they could help by buying me food, but for tuition and rent I was on my own. So I went to my bank with my parents, sat down with the bank manager and set up a Student line of credit(AKA student loan). Basically they give you a set amount of money to use for your duration in college. Then like any loan they expect you to pay it back once you're out the other side and have joined the work force.

For the first year after, they kept my interest rate low to help me pay it back but after a year the interest spikes up to what a regular loan would be. The catch being if you can't get hired out of college, they can be a huge pain to pay back and once the interest goes up the payments can get kind of hard to manage.

My parents let me move back home after grad so I managed to pay back 20k fairly quick because my expenses were low. If you have rent, insurance, and credit card bills stacking up then chances are you could have some trouble and screw your credit score.

Anyways that how it works where I am, like I said it could be different south of the boarder :p

I haven't seen you post in like 6 years...

What He said

and yeah, if you don't pay them back quickly, you can end up in a lot of debt...

Freshmen year I got screwed out of a $7,000 grant so I had to get a $7,000 loan, and they said when I paid it back it'd be a total of $15,000. How's that for like 2% interest?

If your talking college you would want to put in an application with FAFSA.gov, which is the governments financial aid service for colleges. First if you don't qualify for a grant with them they will give you a student load. As long as your at least a part time student (2 classes per semester) you don't have to pay anything on it, once your no longer enrolled in school (graduated, or dropped out) they give you a 3-6 month grace period before you have to start paying the loan back, and start accumulating interest on the loan. 6 months if you graduate, 3 months if you drop out (or below 2 classes per semester) to re-enroll to avoid paying it back, and having interest start accumulating.
[edit]: A little more info. The government will pay the school directly whatever amount you qualify for, or choose to borrow. Any amount over the cost to the school (ie you borrowed more money than you actually needed) the school will issue a check directly to you for the difference. You don't have to worry about paying any money to the school, the government automates it.

yeah you def want to do the FAFSA first and see if you qualify for title IV aid (which is the cheapest interest rates). based on your EFC, they will award you grants (have to have an extremely low efc) if you qualify. If or if not, they will still offer you whatever you are elligible in subsidized (they pay the interest while youre in school, have to have low efc or not a high income) and the remainder in unsubsidized (which everyone qualifies for). and your budget is yearly.

(i used to be a fin aid student worker, hehehe)

I'm pretty sure the amount to qualify for a grant (which you don't have to pay back) is

im assuming he/she is dependent. and its not just a parents income. its other factors include such as a number in household. how many kids in college. etc.

and i dont think he/she is independent! lol but yeah 15,000 is a pretty low income and woould prolly qualify for grants idk thats all up to the government formula and calculations