<p>This differs not only by school, but also by discipline. usually, the biological sciences are funded well because new students start on an NIH training grant, and ultimately move onto the PI's grant. Being a TA is often a requirement of the training and students don't really see where the source of their monthly stipend is coming from. ie your first year you are taking classes and may get the same stipend you do for the second year when you are a TA for, say two semesters. After that, you may just be doing your research, but still get the stipend. Non-bio students may be required to TA more- i am not sure. again, it depends on how much money the dept. has. The posters above are correct- you won't live well, but you can certainly make ends meet if you live like a student. That means sharing apartments, eating ramen, etc. i actually put some money away as a grad student. Hard to believe now since I think the stipend was $450/month! (my1-room + bathroom apt was $130, and the cooking facility was a small camping burner. ah, the good old days...)</p>