<p>You can’t make money playing Texas Hold 'em online anymore since they passed an act that made it difficult to transfer money into the online sites. Thus, the vast majority of the people left online in America are people trying to squeak out a living. Poker is a zero-sum game, so you can only make money if people are playing worse than you (and enough to pay for the rake–the commission paid to the site).</p>
<p>Housing is a bit more than a grand and so you would only have to pay for food. You can get at least one free lunch a week from a seminar hosted by the SURF office. The amgen scholars program actually pays somewhat more since you get 5.5k+room/board allowance ([Information</a> for Students … AMGEN … <caltech>](<a href=“http://www.amgenscholars.caltech.edu/applicants/index.html]Information”>http://www.amgenscholars.caltech.edu/applicants/index.html))</caltech></p>
<p>I joined some clubs that offered various free meals. The newspaper was at least one lunch a week and the student investment fund was a dinner a week. During the school year, the free meals don’t really save you money if you’re on the mandatory board plan though.</p>