I sold a house when I moved and used that equity money to make the house payment at my new location while in school. If you don't have a lot of kids and/or your spouse brings in just a little money, you can make it okay on the graduate assistantship alone. My assistantships have been paying $2500/mo. The problem right now is that housing in the USA is very expensive almost everywhere, so you'll need a smart plan to deal with that.