People have very different ideas about what is "dire financial straits" and what is "luxury". That makes me reluctant sometimes to be generous - because increasingly often someone will ask for a reduction on something I'm selling for instance, because they say they that are in dire straits and then I see them in a fancy car and talking about their vacations.

For me being in dire financial straits means no food, and I'm inclined to be generous - but nowadays I realise that people feel entitled to luxuries and to complaining that "the government should provide me with cheap housing"... so I have to set some hard boundaries around my impulse to generosity. If I loaned someone money and they spent on a vacation, then I would ask for the loan back.

So what if you are "a student", you are still moving towards adult financial responsibility . Does being a student mean you are entitled to subsidy? Different people have different rules and extremely different life experiences around money, so perhaps you should check out with the people who loaned you money. Only they can know whether they still feel ok or not.

To me respecting other people's generosity is important because we all might need to rely on that in a real dire emergency some day - pay it forward.

Seems to me like a situation where people will have different opinions.