[eruditely]

What does "abuse" mean in your context? "Abusing it to get by", very anti-humanistic mentality here.

"The kids with polio abused vaccines to get by" "The kids with hunger abused food to get by"

What does "abusing to get by" even mean? You mean, USING it to get by, and thus preventing failure of the negative kind? You mean ... the desire-able outcome?

[ddoolin]

I had originally typed "to get through exams" but for some inane reason I changed it at the last minute and now conveys the wrong thought completely.