How do I deal with being poor at college?

[ucbalumnus]

@zettasyntax

I went to USC and I’m from East Los Angeles (where the poverty rate is something like 97%). Being a private school, there were tons of students that were paying full tuition such as the international kids. I was sitting behind this Chinese dude and he was buying sweats that were $300! During lunch, I would sometimes be targeted by a solicitor that said something like “It would be great if you could donate $200”. I would sometimes donate $5 or $20, but I just thought it was insane that she was asking a college kid for so much money. It’s true that many people associate USC with spoiled rich children (and there are many like that), but the school is so big that you find all kinds of people.

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=123961 indicates that 41% of USC students are paying list price with no grants or scholarships, and only 22% are on Pell grants. Still, the percentage on Pell grants may be higher than at many Big Ten schools that the OP may be considering (but many places in the Midwest may be less prone to flaunting money / expensive status symbols than the Los Angeles / Orange County areas).