Filing FAFSA allows any undergrad to access Federal Direct Student Loans.
It looks like you filed FAFSA based on prior posts, so this $5,500 loan (freshman yr amount) is likely part of NYU’s fin aid package, which might also include institutional grants/scholarships, parent plus loans, etc. Undergrads can (generally) take out these federal loans in the following amounts, starting freshman year: $5,500/$6.5K/$7.5k/$7.5K. These loans are typically broken further down into subsidized and unsubsidized loans, see here:
https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans