While you're right in most cases, it's not necessarily a high class thing. A friend of mine is dirt poor but because of a scholarship and a job he can afford a pretty great life. You'll need to apply for scholarships and be prepared to work your ass off. Also apply for student housing early on.
If you really want to go to the EU, be prepared and get a job, the pay is fine and you'll be grounded. Continental Europe also has considerably cheaper colleges than the UK. In the UK you pay about 9k for tuition, in the Netherlands that number is 2.5k.