In Britain, pretty much everyone gets a student loan, it's pretty standard really. The amount you get depends on your parent's income (I'm not sure if your own is taken into account). As my parents are unemployed, I get the full amount which is roughly £3000 per academic year living expenses and then my tuition fees (which were £1120 last year but from this year on are £3070- OUCH!!), and a grant of £900 per term. So far I'm in about £10000 with two years left til I finish (I had to repeat my first year), so I reckon I'll be in £20000 or so overall. One day I'll sit down and work all this out. I really think I need to! As the loans are government- given and not from banks though, the repayment plan is very reasonable. I don't have to start paying back until I earn over £15000 a year and even then it averages out as something like £5 a week (or so they told us when we were applying), and right now the interest is roundabout 4%. And after 25 years anything I haven't paid is written off. It still scares me to think just how much debt I'm letting myself in for though, but this is what it takes to get an education these days.
