Here's the Scoop on Whether It's Possible to Work Your Way Through College

Meaning that their living expenses were subsidized by their parents.

Yes, such costs are typically much lower than living in the college dorm, but they are not $0, and students who do not have the option of living with their parents (e.g. the parents live in a remote area too far to reasonably commute to college from) or whose parents are unwilling to let them live there will not have such an option (much less in a subsidized form).