R&B charges can really vary. My daughter was required to live on campus and required to have a meal plan that cost $2600 (that was 6 years ago; now costs $3000 per semester). It looks like the housing costs haven’t gone up much, but for a very low income area, the college charged a lot. When she moved off campus, it was a lot less expensive. A lot.
Some schools just charge a lot for R&B, and the closer you are to a high COL area, the higher those costs are going to be. Schools in LA and Boston and NYC charge more.
Kids can earn a lot more now than they could just 3-4 years ago. Minimum wage has gone up in many cities. Last summer, in just 3 months, my daughter made about $7k in a state where minimum wage is still $7.25 (she made more, but not as much as she would have if she was in my state). Lots of 10 hour days and some hustle got her some tips, but she needed to make the money so she did.