I am not sure I’m what you’d call low-income; my family makes over 100k/year but less than 130k, though they are putting both me and my sister through college right now and we live in a semi-high cost of living area. That being said, I was raised to be very frugal and as a result I probably act like I have less money than I do.
Most people I know seem to be in a similar boat of income, where they are well off, but my peers seem less concerned about money and saving money than I am. For example, almost all my friends are living in West Village which is the most expensive on-campus housing and some even have singles in WV (over $6k a semester). International students on campus tend to be super wealthy so they almost always live in the nicest places and wear exclusively name brand things/have the iPhone 74. As someone who is frugal, and rarely wears name brand things, I have noticed some wealth on campus but I definitely don’t feel out of place because of it. Just a difference, I guess.
Good ways to save on room & board: 1.) don’t live in a single, 2.) shop at Star Market/Shaw’s, not the on-campus grocery stores where everything is marked up like crazy, and budget your groceries well; 3.) apply to be an RA! I am one, and as such R&B is free for me and likely will be for the rest of my undergrad career. I will in fact likely make money next year, for having free R&B all year, only paying tuition fall semester (and super discounted because of my fin.aid), and making money on co-op in the spring.