It's highly common for students to have some manner of Financial Aid in college. The overarching term of "financial aid," however, encompasses several things:

Scholarships - money awarded for merit-based performance (usually). This is "free" money and is not expected to be paid back. One example is the Florida Bright Futures program.
Grants - money awarded for various reasons (sometimes having to do with one's background, family income, or profile). This is also "free" money that does not need to be re-paid. A commonly used one is Pell Grants, which is funded by the federal government.
Loans - there are both government loans (Sallie Mae) and loans by private banks and credit unions. These dollars *do* have to be paid back, and there is always interest added to each repayment installment.

There are also prepayment plans ("Florida prepaid"), college savings plans from other U.S. states (529 plans), Federal savings plans (Coverdell, or the ESA plan), and the Florida Bright Futures program (which is a scholarship). None of these have to be repaid and do not count as debt; the programs mentioned in this paragraph are savings vehicles and would have been "purchased" well in advance of beginning college.

For savings, grants, and scholarships, it may feel like you could spend the money freely until it is all gone. From a program and legal point of view, that's likely true. But keep in mind the true cost of a cup of coffee! Do all you can to minimize spending, and increase your savings. One of the unsung heroes of true wealth later in life is delayed gratification.

For student loans, let's dwell for a few moments on the typical lifespan of a student loan and some common questions about such loans:

Deferment. It's common practice to take student loan money during college, but delay ("defer") paying any of it back until after college is over. Some may even request a "hardship deferment" if they lose a job even after they've started repaying. All that happens with deferment is delay; the money is still owed, and the interest that is accumulating continues to pile up ever larger.
Minimum Payments. Student loans will come with all kinds of interest rates. Those from private lenders may have higher interest rates (but not always), but those from the government typically offer better repayment, deferment, and cancellation options. Lower rates generate a perverse incentive to pay only minimum payments, since the interest each month is such a small dollar value. But that kind of thinking often leads to treating student loans like a "normal" expense, the way we pay for electricity or groceries. As a result, the loan stretches out for years and literally decades in some cases. It's better to pay back the loan as fast as possible. Make more than the minimum payment, if it all possible.
Consolidation. There are companies out there offering "consolidation" services, which pay off existing loans and generate a single new loan to replace it. They advertise it as something worthwhile from a convenience point of view, since you only have to write a single check each month. From a financial point of view, however, these services generally do not add any value, and in fact could end up making it more expensive for you to pay everything back. It's simpler to leave the loans "where they are" most of the time, and pay them back one at a time. The problem in personal finance is usually not "interest rate," it's psychology. The more serious you are about paying extra to get out of debt, the faster it goes, and the more insignificant the interest rate becomes. Having the psychological boost of paying off the small debts can really help keep you motivated as you work on the larger ones.
Bankruptcy. Keep in mind that if you ever declare personal bankruptcy, student loans are almost never bankruptable. You will still owe the money on student loans.

Spending vs. Saving

What does it all mean? You should tap the funds only when necessary, and only when no other option is possible. Just because you've been offered $20,000 (or whatever) in student loans does not mean you have to use all of it. In fact, just the opposite. You should use the money exceedingly sparingly. Whatever you don't spend is that much less that you've "paid back" already, right out of the starting gate.

How do you leave some of your student loan untapped? Simple. Increase your other revenues, and decrease your spending. You can typically make both of those things happen by landing a part-time job--ideally, one on campus so you don't have to worry about transportation or commuting.

When you work an hourly job, obviously you make more money, meaning you have to tap your student loans less. The bonus is what happens to your formerly-free time. If you spend all your time time working the part time job and studying, you'll find yourself spending less money simply by virtue of not having free time.

There is even research that shows working part-time in college results in gains for students, including overall grade point average. Perhaps more importantly, working part time teaches core life skills that are otherwise hard to come by.

Traction

Why not just pay minimum payments later? Shouldn't college be about living the good life for now?

From a legal point of view, you certainly could tap all your student loans during college and then plan to pay minimum payments ever after. Of course, you would be committing yourself to several decades of payments to get rid of the loan.

Imagine life as a 29 year old. You're seriously considering getting married, which also means wanting to buy a house. But it's hard to save for a down payment ($20,000 or more) if your monthly spending EQUALS your monthly income. What's eating up all the take-home pay? Some of it goes to rent (the biggest chunk) and utilities (which cannot be skipped). Some of it goes to social life and restaurants, because who wants to live life as a hermit spending no money? And if you've got a student loan repayment, the monthly bill will be a BIG drag on your bottom line. A big salary sounds like a wonderful thing to a college student, but the actual dollars are eaten up pretty quickly by all the things which cost money once you are living on your own.

Take it from your future self. Gaining traction to save for retirement or a down payment is not feasible for most people if you are also repaying a student loan. Do what you can now to minimize what you will owe later.

Take-15

You can help by graduating from USF as fast as you possibly can, spending as little of your student loan allotment as possible. That will minimize the repayment schedule.

You may see posters around campus extolling you to "take 15" (meaning fifteen credits each semester). The general idea is to finish your college degree in four years or even less, especially if you can take summer classes.

It's not just lip service: it's proven advice that will get you through college and into your career with minimal financial impact. Work with your academic advisor to make sure you know how best to maximize your academic career plan.

Personal Vehicles

As a side note, let's talk about cars for a minute.

Cars are not very good investments. If you put money into stocks, it may appreciate by 10% a year for decades. Or bonds, which may provide a 5% bonus per year, fairly predictably. Houses go up in value over time, sometimes with dramatic spikes in appreciation. Houses are usually considered the BEST investments, actually.

But cars? Cars go down in value, almost without fail. A $25,000 car is worth perhaps $22,000 the second you drive it off the dealer's lot and try to re-sell it. That same $25,000 car is likely worth $15,000 in a few years, and a few years after that it's worth only $5,000.

In the meantime, a $3,000 used car may be scruffy-looking on the outside, but it will provide transportation to your destination just the same. We hardly need to go through the "cup of coffee" calculations here to make the point salient: a $3,000 used car is an amazing way to get through college without much debt, while a $25,000 new car is a recipe for tying yourself to years of car loan repayments, even while the thing drops in value.

Clearly, there is lots of room for negotiation. Maybe a $10,000 used car is the right level for you rather than a $3,000 one (this being Florida, a working air conditioning seems to be a sensible requirement). That's still a dramatic savings over a brand new car.

The bottom line is that you need to be thinking, while you are young, about spending less and saving more. Not throwing your money away on vehicles is a big part of that successful formula.