Ohio State has a pretty good set up as far as help with financial aid. We have a person in the dean's office who is great at keeping us up to date with exactly what needs to be turned in, etc. to get our financial aid. She answers any question that we may have about government loans, some outside loans, petitioning for more $ etc..
This is my first experience with financial aid, so I don't know if this is the norm or not -- but the process has been pretty easy the last 4 years.