Your financial aid award is the total amount of aid they are giving you, either listed as for the entire school year, or per term.
This would be the amount of $ of grants, loans, and scholarships.
The rest that isn't covered by your financial aid award must be covered by you/your family. You can always get private loans to cover the rest of you must.
Furthermore, you do not have to accept everything in your award. If you don't want to get a loan, or you don't want to take the total amount of a loan offered to you, that is completely fine. You just call up the Financial Aid office and tell them "I'd like to change my loan amount from $5000 a year to $3000. I'll cover the rest during the school year."
