I am at this very point at the moment (finishing master thesis), and my parents are not wealthy - I've been earning my own money since 17. Thinking that you start with 0 is IMHO a fallacy (if you are staying within the same industry). If you are no antisocial you have made at least 1-2 (or better: 10-20) good friends at college/school with whom you can team up, or build your network. If you haven't, reach out to your ex project group partners.
Many ex-students think that they don't deserve high wages yet - "I have to learn X,Y,Z,... until I can demand X$". Thing is that we never stop learning, and you HAVE to charge money for learning. Projects are by definition a nonrecurring enterprise (else you could fully automate the outcome), so there will always be things to learn to finish it.
If you think that your skills are not worth a lot of money, you will not even try and demand it - that makes it exactly a zero chance of earning a lot. For many people the only thing that separates them from earning much is their self-confidence (or confidence in their skills) - or choice of wrong market/industry (what are my talents?), but that's a different post.
Many ex-students think that they don't deserve high wages yet - "I have to learn X,Y,Z,... until I can demand X$". Thing is that we never stop learning, and you HAVE to charge money for learning. Projects are by definition a nonrecurring enterprise (else you could fully automate the outcome), so there will always be things to learn to finish it.
If you think that your skills are not worth a lot of money, you will not even try and demand it - that makes it exactly a zero chance of earning a lot. For many people the only thing that separates them from earning much is their self-confidence (or confidence in their skills) - or choice of wrong market/industry (what are my talents?), but that's a different post.