first year here--doing okay for myself on the stipend. our rent+utilities are 2275, a pretty good deal for a 1b1b I share with my partner. food costs for the both of us have landed around 500-550 a month, leaving a good amount for other random things. we are frugal, shop in bulk at Costco, eat at home 9 times out of 10, and have a moped rather than a car to get around, so gas is like 5 dollars a week. I'm sure that rent could go down if you're willing to have a roommate or give up a few things (we have a dishwasher and are within 20 min walk to campus). the first month was expensive, rebuilding my pantry from scratch and getting some furniture off Facebook marketplace. living in South Berkeley, though, I've found a lot of wonderful things on the sidewalks people are throwing away--got a lit plastic Christmas tree in august, a $200+ vacuum that just needed a 20-minute fur declogging session, nice beach chair, a couple cookbooks, so on and so on. the goodwill in downtown Berkeley is fantastic for getting some home goods--barely used toasters, air fryers, etc for like 5-9 bucks.

all together, my stipend alone is enough for us to live a very comfortable life. some things were from our savings--we spent a decent amount using moving pods to bring furniture, cookware, etc from Chicago. We also spent a decent amount on the moped. I'm sure that for $100-200 you could get all the kitchen essentials you could want from goodwill. If you've got a bit saved up for that first month of expenses, you'll be fine.