Australians tend to stay in the same city for college, so room and board are generally not required. Most students live at home with their parents. All students have access to government assistance in the form of centrelink [1] (though centrelink is a beauracratic pain to get through), and out-of state students are entitled to more.

In terms cost, UNSW is one of the top universities in the country. (EDIT: this is an ambiguous sentence, I am sorry. I mean that UNSW is one of the top universities, and cost is still lower than many US universities) I understand that US college can be done on the cheap, but it's definitely not the norm. You can always find work arounds I'm sure, but I was just emphaising that going to a top uni for this price sans-hassle is very much the norm here.

On top of this, it's important to note that even minimum wage jobs here pay pretty well (the highest by buying power in the world [2]). Thus, even if you are doing university and working part time you can do ok.

[1] https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/subjects/paymen... [2] https://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/top-10-national-mi...