successful vs sellout

So as I've mentioned before in some blogs that I've been doing more and more freelance work lately. I love it, it's so exciting! I feel like I'm really going to be able to be successful at this. The only thing is that my professors keep telling me to make sure I'm getting paid what I'm worth. However, their perspective and mine is so different. They obviously are very picky about the work that they take because they have been successful illustrators for many years. I'm glad they think our work as students is worth so much but I really don't put the same price tag on my art that my professors do. Take the amount I would accept and put a 1 in front of it, that's typically the difference of our perspectives. I figure if it's paying me more than my current job, then, hey cool. (If it's less than that then it's pretty ridiculous, come on, this is Provo) I'm getting valuable experience, published work and I'm getting paid for it. And it's not like they're paying me to scrub floors or something, they're paying me to draw stuff, which is my well known addiction anyways. What could be better? Last year I drew all the time for free. What am I talking about? My whole life I've drawn for free. In my eyes, anything is better than nothing.
However, as Michael Dudash pointed out (a visiting illustrator who came to BYU last week) when students and young artists consistently accept smaller paychecks than the industry standard then it hurts everyone because publishers start to expect to pay less and then everyone, young and old, gradually are forced to accept less money for their work. I guess the idea is that we're not just getting paid for what we complete, but the billions of hours of drawing and experience that it takes to be able to produce professional art. My professors are my professors because they know more about the illustration world than I do so I should probably listen to them. I've tried asking for more money and it gets me a little progress, but not a whole lot. Should I just hold out for the better jobs and more money or be grateful for what I'm getting?
I'm curious about other people's opinions, at what point are you a sell out hurting the industry, and when are you just a student getting a foot in the door by having some published work under your belt because you draw really fast to make it worth your time? (obviously I would prefer to be the later but I know I have to choose some type of ground where I reject work)

And by the way, the reason Michael Dudash was talking about this subject was because when I walked into the middle of a class to sit and observe my professor pointed me out and asked about the bargain freelance work I had been doing and what his opinion was about it.