<p>how come i always ssee these less than 30k incomes in people chances threads. how do you even survive. perhaps it is because i live in southern california. i was just wondering what is your family income and where do you live/suburbs or city? if it is too personal dont post!</p>
<p>suburbian southern california- >150k</p>
<p>It's possible to survive without 3 BMWs, a mansion, and the latest brand-name clothes.</p>
<p>Oh, I live in Northeast Philly and my mother is not salaried and barely even has an earning capacity. My father owns a business in Voorhees but is estranged from the family and refuses to provide any financial assistance.</p>
<p>...while there are far more tactful ways that you could have asked that question, know that suburban socal = higher living costs and apparently a somewhat sheltered outlook on life (which contributes to why everyone around you has high incomes and why you cant imagine anyone living off 30K)</p>
<p>to be fair, im lucky to be from a upper-middle-class family (though it means i get the shaft in financial aid lol), but i have friends who have to spend a few years at community college before transferring to a state university because they, while smart, could not get a scholarship to those schools out of hs and cant afford the in-state tuition. being in a family living off of 30K, i imagine, would be difficult but not discouraging- the great thing about america is that with enough determination, someone can always move up tax brackets.</p>
<p>sorry. hahah i did not mean to come across as arrogant AT ALL. i know it is possible to live off of 30k but i was just curious about the demographics thats all. sorry once again</p>
<p>I suspect your motivation has a little more to do with self-validation than pure intellectual curiosity about the demographics of users on an online forum. Just saying...</p>
<p>But anyway, don't worry, if you end up at Penn there will be few poor students around to threaten your suburban sense of normality. Just watch out for those bums on the street. I'm wiling to bet their incomes are quite a bit lower than $30,000 a year...</p>
<p>Yeah, the more I read this thread, the more I get the sense that the OP really just needs to have his ego fed because mommy and daddy have nice jobs in suburban California.</p>
<p>What an ignorant thread to start. Seriously.</p>
<p>It is this sort of crap that makes me wish I never came to Penn sometimes. Too many people seem to have this need to remind everyone in one way or another how well-off they are and how "impossible" it seems for someone with less money to survive.</p>
<p>If it's a legitimate question and you seriously can't understand how people can live off sub-30K, then at least I applaud you for trying to look outside your current world view. This school just drives me crazy sometimes because there are far too many people who ask questions like these for the sake of establishing financial superiority.</p>
<p>I personally don't care if someone has financial superiority over me. It's those kind of people who drive me to do better and make them eat their words.</p>
<p>I know there are always people who will HAVE financial superiority, but it angers me when someone tries to put you down for being financially inferior.</p>
<p>At least we're on a level playing field now, especially with Penn's new financial aid policy. All the rich *******s can look forward to seeing us poor kids moving in next fall.</p>
<p>That's great for the incoming freshmen. I'm a junior at Penn right now, so I kinda missed out on that one.</p>
<p>My mom makes less than 20 thousand a year, and I survive by being humble in skipping out on luxuries of life. And guess what? I'm happy and don't care if I'm rich :D</p>
<p>I don't care either -- I just dislike when people put you down for it.</p>