I have a question. Would you pay to submit to a contest by a newly established college lit magazine? Like say the winner gets paid but the submission fee is $10-15 per submission. Would you do it?
A writer honestly shouldn't ever pay to have anything published, unless they are going along the daunting path of self-publishing. I dare say that magazine won't last long.
I would submit to a contest that charges, but the prizes need to be substantial to make it worthwhile. Like it's not good to pay a $10 contest fee when first prize is only $20, but $300, now that's definitely good. Also, make sure the contests are legitimate.
I wouldn't pay anything for a writing contest. (The exception would be the top tier of screenplay contests, which is sort of a horse of a different color.) The idea of paying for a shot at a COLLEGE LIT MAGAZINE strikes me as preposterous. Contests of that type are generally attempts to self-fund circulation-raising.