Saving vs. Large Loans

Hey all! Perhaps this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it. I want to get your two cents on this. Right now I am a year and a half away from applying for nursing school. I am a single 27yo gal who supports herself 100%, no kiddos, no help from family. Currently I am working full time as an MA and going to school full time. I am planning to cut down to working little to none while in the nursing program. I do not have family I can move in with. I rent a room in a house from a woman to try and keep expenses down as much as possible.

There is my back story. Here is my real question. I am taking out loans to pay for school and stashing away money to pay for living expenses while in the nursing program. Is it best to continue to do this so I know my personal expenses will be close to being covered while in school, resulting in less loans later for personal expenses. OR should I be paying off all student loans now and not be stashing money?

I get an extremely low interest rate (about 3.4-3.8%), where if I take out additional personal loans while in the nursing program the interest rate could double.

And one more weird question that someone might have an answer to. Right now I am stashing money in a fireproof gun safe I have that is bolted to the ground However, I would love to have it in an account where it can accrue interest! If I put it into an account though, my FAFSA see it and I will receive no financial aid. Any ideas for a work around on this? :)

Thank you all for taking the time to read this!!!

~Erica