I don’t know how things are done in California, but around here (SC), yes, you can get a teaching assistantship to help you through grad. school and then work your tail off, teaching, grading... doing everything the professor in charge of the course is too sorry to do himself/herself. The pay barely allows you to survive, and I don’t know anybody who applied for (or got) food stamps.
Actually this was East Coast. Three different people I knew lived well by applying for everything, I’m sure it took a lot of research to find all the goodies. I know about the food stamps when one of them told me and explained that it was no big deal. This was years ago but I suspect that if you are willing to learn the system you too can skate through life on the backs of others. I don’t believe that anyone of them considered anything they were doing as not honest—they were just smarter and all good liberals. Getting govt goodies as way of life can be at any level not just inner-city poor. I’m sure it applies to businesses, bankers, etc.