When did you decide to make the jump to better gear? How did you afford it?

Currently a student photographer for a newspaper, love what I'm doing and have even switched majors already to focus on doing more photography, however, I do feel a little let down by my gear. My camera struggles a lot with auto focus on even nearby subjects, and sometimes it even straight up doesn't work. Also struggles significantly in low light, so I've been looking at a new body. Wondering when others made the jump, what made them do it, and how they afforded it.