The majority of my thoughts are conjecture, but you know that about me already
It's only mentioned in this way externally on the store pages for steam and epic. There was some theories circulating regarding scholarships a week or two back when doomyk noticed Vic got a scholarship letter; coupled with the mention that there is no choice of college heavily suggests that Nika will find himself indebted to ZPR for a scholarship. One thing that is in game that is suggestive is that Vic saw Nika's name on 'the list' when she mentions they're both going to ZPR. I don't know of any college that shares a list of other students with other students.
Vic's scholarship is possible due to her injury, but who knows? It might be due to who her parents were to the Zane's from WiaB era (the Frohn's might have managed the Zane's investments in order to become ZPR, based on their business). Similarly, Nika nd Nami might have scholarships because of Nami with her earring - ignoring the question of who their parents might be, the earring clearly acts as a sign of Leia's favour.
I think there's enough information in game to be suspicious of the situation. Nika clearly has no goals, as stated in the script, he's just accepted what has been offered, and I can't imagine Noji would accept such a financial burden as college without being certain he want to go through with it. That's about the strongest connection I have in the game - Noji isn't in a position to waste money if Nika's not interested. Other than that, Nika continually mentioning how they can't afford anything, suggests whatever Noji earns, it's barely enough for their standard of living.
I guess th elast thing is, someone recovering from a collapsed lung, recuperation, rehabilitation etc. is not cheap. The strawberry jam wounds were also pretty nasty. Who knows what financial burden that might have been? I don't think we need to think about it in a forensicaccounting sense, it's plausible enough an excuse for why Noji is struggling.