> I should note that I definitely did this from a position of privilege and if shit really hit the fan I could have always swallowed my pride and asked for a family bail out.

I think this is really insightful. The difference between being truly poor and just being a broke college student is that while a broke student may not have any money on their pocket, they can always call it quits if things just too hard.* Makes me think more carefully when people claim "hey I know what it's like to be poor too - I had no money at college!"

*assuming they're not also truly poor.