Financial Aid?!?!Student Loans?!?! D:?

[kathleen k]

Hi, I'm a freshman in college and have never really thought about financial aid since my parents are middle class and after filing a FAFSA last year, we do not qualify for any, for a UC, anyways. They have also always said they are going to pay for my college education.

Now, however, I am thinking of paying my own way through college for the next few years, because I feel the fact that they are paying for it is keeping me from getting the most out of my college experience (they are, at the same time, babying me yet pressuring me like crazy).

I realize this will take a lot of work, but could someone give me the 411 on student loans and whether I could get financial aid, is there a legal process that I would have to go through to basically financially divorce myself from my parents?
(I also plan on moving out after I figure this out..)