[quote=Scarlett]totally true. And nice clothing isn’t necessary. We don’t know how many of those with premium clothes and iphones have students loans and how many don’t – but there seem to be the majority of them. Maybe those with nice clothes do eat top ramen because those are their priorities. So it’s hard to prove one way or the other, who is doing what, but in general student life seems better and more expensive and more people are enjoying better clothes/electronics etc. than when I was in college 20 years ago.[/quote]

Having had two kids just recently finish up at UC (one here at UCSD and the other at UC Santa Cruz), here’s what I’ve seen. Most kids don’t have much money. If their parents can somehow afford to pay for their tuition and rent, spending money is usually the student’s responsibility. Most have a job to cover that. (That’s how my kids did it.) The very lucky ones have iphones their parents pay for, but not most.

My son (at UCSC) lived in a 3 bedroom apartment with 5 other kids (one “lived” in a large closet.) It was a house converted into 3 apartment units, so they shared a single DSL connection with wireless among about 15 kids. Much of their food came from dumpster diving. They know exactly when the bakery and produce stores throw out their unsalable stuff. The used clothing stores in downtown Santa Cruz are packed with students every weekend. They ride bikes to save on gas money. If they eat at restaurants, it’s cheap restaurants.

While the surroundings were a bit nicer at UCSD, I didn’t see a lot of kids wasting money. They work. Particularly those on grants or student loans. My daughter tutored high school kids 16-20 hours a week. Her roommate gave ice skating lessons. They price shop. Their nice clothes come from Marshall or Ross.

Not a lot different than when I was in college, when my first semester cost $200 including books. And we ate tuna from a can and a lot of quesadillas.