Sue, your school should have Cost of Attendance estimates for you--either you will have to ask the financial aid office for these or they will be somewhere on the website. Cost of attendance figures add up tuition, fees, books, and living expenses (including rent, food, transportation costs, and discretionary spending). Federal loans have annual limits; you will have to see what that is relative to the cost of attendance. This website has a table of loan limits:
FinAid | Loans | Student Loans
What you will likely have to do is apply for a private loan to make up the difference. Estimated cost of attendance is fairly generous (in my mind, may not be to you); I advise that you come up with an alternative budget and only borrow what you need to privately. Private loan companies are not so generous or flexible with their repayment terms.
Regardless, both the feds and the private loan company will check with your school's financial aid office to find out what the cost of attendance is, and they will not loan you money above and beyond that cost. A private loan company will only loan you enough to make up the difference between your federal loans and the cost of attendance estimate. If your living expenses are higher than that, you're going to have to find some other source of money.
And with the feds, you'll have 2 loans a year--your unsubsidized loan and your subsidized loan. It will most likely be disbursed at the beginning of your academic term. With private loans, try to keep it to one loan a year. It will most likely be disbursed at the same time as your federal loans.
I may not be a loan officer, but I have been jumping through the financial aid hoops for a while now
