Poor prof's had carpets laid out differently (8,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
strapped for cash
'laid out differently' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'poor prof's had carpets' is the wordplay.
'poor' is an anagram indicator.
'profs'+'had'+'carpets'='profshadcarpets'
'profshadcarpets' with letters rearranged gives 'STRAPPED FOR CASH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strapped for cash that I've seen before include "as an S & M prostitute?" , "needing money" , "Bust" , "Hard up" , "very short of money?" .)