I had a sim that got denied for her scholarships she applied for and only had 200 sumoleons going in. It was pretty rough. The text book she saved up for asfter she asked her parents for a loan was pretty pricey. :# Going in with nothing to not much is a struggle. Long as my sim got A's she could get extra money at the end of the term which was helpful.
I mean yeah itd be easy ro have a sim take up whatever skill and pai ting is an OP lucrative skill. But my sim is t artsy or like to fish either. Havi g a part time job made thi gs pretty hard in juggling classes and fiding time to do homework and term papers.