MESA, Ariz. — $2 per day.

That’s what 20 Arizona State University students will be living on for the next three days.

They’ll also be sleeping in cardboard boxes to discover what it’s like to be to be poor. They will be doing it front of the Student Union building at ASU’s Polytechnic campus in Mesa.

“Since 45 percent of the world lives on less than $2 a day, ASU students decided to join them and see how it feels,” said Mentor Dida, an ASU student from Kosovo.

Dida said students have to earn the $2 themselves by cleaning dorm rooms, washing cars or taking donations. They also want people to drop off their old shoes.

“For every pound that we get, we get like a dollar,” Dida said.

A group called Esperanca will give them the dollar for the shoes. The footwear will then be donated to the poor.

“We hope we get a lot of donations from students,” said Deeda.

The 20 students will all pool their money so that they will have $40 a day to live off of as a group. Deeda isn’t thrilled with what they can eat.

“We have two meals a day, but the same meals like beans and tortillas, which I’m not looking forward to,” he said.

Since fires are not allowed on the campus, the group will cook the meals in the student union’s kitchen.