Well I once was poor engineering student, who paid my way for everything myself.
My freshmen year, I sold my 96 Impreza Brighton to buy a 02 WRX engine from a wrecked car and a cheaper 94 Impreza L. Through the years and down times at the motorsports lab; some innovation, some time making my own parts and tuning my own hacked ECU, it turned into a decent 400bhp in a 2400lb chassis. I also swapped back and forth between AWD and RWD too.
So you don't need to spend $30k to get a fun RWD car. Make your own on a budget. My car had maybe $10k in it total (car included).
By the way, if you want to get into the industry (motorsports or OEM), find a school with a Formula SAE program
