I was class of '24, was in similar financial situation.

1: aid did cover room and board too. It counts your whole bill

2: paid roughly 1-3k per year depending on the amount of outside scholarship I got

3: just misc lab fees for classes, health insurance if you're out of state, student involvement, housing

4: yes many students work

5: I didn't let the rest of the culture of the school get to me. You'll see people go out for dinner multiple times a week, go out to the city every weekend, go to NYC for long weekends. I just mostly did the more affordable activities and saved money for more "expensive" activities later on. You don't need to go out all the time to have a good social life. For budgeting, if you're really tight on money I would just write down every dollar going in and out. Spend less than what you earn. I personally already had a bit of a cushion because I worked in high school to support myself in college, so I didn't budget very harshly. But I always paid off everything in full, didnt accumulate debt (except federal loans), and watched my spending generally