With a 2011 budget of about $150 billion, the federal student aid program is complicated, to say the least. Different grants, different loans, different interest rates and different payment plans can make student debt a mental obstacle course. The Daily Nebraskan brought them all together in this guide.

Most of federal aid comes in the form of loans, chunks of money the government gives to students with the agreement that they’ll eventually be paid back after graduation with additional interest. But which loans a student gets and how much interest she or he pays is potentially a $10,000 question.