I finally got everything to work, but the only way it will work without giving me permission errors is if i set the folder's user to apache's username/group (apache:apache).
I have a feeling this is quite insecure. I have gone through all the threads here as well as multiple other ones throughout the internet.
I also noticed that the only way the test.pl file will work is if i append -w to the #!usr/bin/perl.