How Do Student Loans Work if I m an Undergraduate in Fall and start graduate school in the Spring?

I attended Regent University as an undergraduate in Fall 2015. I recently applied to and was accepted at University of Maryland University College for graduate school. My grad school is saying I m ineligible to receive the complete $20,500 because I received loans at my undergraduate school. They reduced my award by $9,000. However, I only received 6,250 in loans for that semester. Do my undergraduate loans really affect my graduate loans in this way? I will still be attending graduate school for two semesters which should warrant me getting the entire reward, not just part of it. They re saying it s because the federal government limits how much I can get in a year, but that limitation changes once I become a graduate student, doesn t it?