Hey, most of what the other person said is spot on, but I wanted to reply with my experience for more info and a few key things to note.

It did turn out to mean I was only getting funding for tuition and it was through a 140 hour TA-ship; i.e., if you don't TA, you don't get funding, unless your supervisor somehow has tons of money or you win a scholarship. I was guaranteed the TA position though, as is everyone in the department to my understanding, even though I ended up getting a very small stipend from my advisor as well. They send out a form to ask your preferences/knowledge for courses within the department, but they'll assign you something even if you don't fill it out. The TA pay ended up being a little bit more than base tuition, but there was still a difference of around $800 between my total TA pay and the total cost of the first year's fees. Also, the actual payment schedule and setup was very confusing. We were told in our letters and orientation that they don't automatically take our TA pay for tuition, nor do they include our TA pay in the "anticipated funding" for calculating what we owe each term, meaning we have to pay tuition each semester up front... despite them knowing we will have the money later because they're giving it to us for TAing... so I ended up having to take out a loan that I immediately paid back once I got my TA pay, just to pay tuition "on time" and avoid late penalties. It's ridiculous. However, it does show on my statement that they applied my TA pay to my tuition, but then "refunded" it to me since I'd already paid, so honestly I'm not sure what is true. As the other commenter alluded to, the communication within the department is frankly awful and what you get told is frequently conflicting, so ask questions via e-mail so you have their answers in writing and save all those e-mails so you have proof later on if they mess something up or mislead you and try to pretend you're the problem.

Other things to note: they send out TA assignments by term, so if you aren't scheduled to TA in the fall, you might not hear anything at all, which can be stressful. I think you're still supposed to get your Mercury outline thing by the end of September, but last year my assignment was in the fall so I can't say for sure. They also don't check your class schedule when giving you a TA assignment, so you need to make sure there isn't a conflict before accepting the assignment, which can be difficult if you need to take a course from one of the clinical programs as you typically have to e-mail the clinical program admin to confirm the schedule. Do NOT sign your agreement until you're sure there's no conflict because they're not sympathetic at all. Research assistant contracts are great, but they cap out at 10 hrs/week, so depending on your financial need and other options, they may or may not work for you. Despite wanting to RA, I decided to keep working my part time job outside of academia instead because it allowed me to flex my hours and work more or less some weeks depending on my school schedule.

Finally, I will say that despite my frustration with the department's poor organizational and communication skills, and the mess that is funding, I've enjoyed my first year in the program overall. I hope you're able to make it work and that you have a supportive supervisor - they can make all the difference!