I was lucky enough that I could "afford" to take a significant loan out for that year, such that I could have the nice apartment, and could have people over for shabbos. But seeing my classmates travel all over, buy lots of stuff, and the like was a real shocker to my system. As it was, I had to argue with Shechter about which sort of visa to get- the single-entry student visa was free, and they wanted me to get a multiple-entry visa (it turned out, they got a kick-back if I did). Eventually, they got it for me, with the agreement that if I used it (I couldn't afford to do so, even if I wanted to), I'd pay them back. Well- they were out the money for no reason...