Refer to my post in the thread "Need Answers" a little further down the page. Pretty much everyone lives on aid of some sort, usually loans. It's hard to work and some schools don't even allow it. Summers and breaks are good times to work, but you need a break sometime or else you will get burnt out. Diff people do diff things. Personally, my school doesn't allow us to work so I live on loans (which is easy because I am single with no children). I worked during the summer before school started to have a little bit of cushion in my account, but I won't be working anytime else. I had 2 weeks for christmas and I had to study during it. I get about 5 weeks off for summer but I think I may just relax for most of it, visit family I don't see, and maybe take a short trip to somewhere warm 😍 .
But anyway, my point is that most people use loans. 🙂