I don't know much about PhD programs, but I agree with avoiding loans for living expenses. Years from now it will be like she's paying double living expenses, and one is hard enough these days. There are other ways to make due while in grad school, as many have attested.
Reading some of your stories is like a trip down Memory Lane, though. (Haven't seen anything about Zayer's in a while
grew up going there.) During college DH and I were like many of you. Our first apartment was tiny, and essentially all of our furnishings and housewares were donated from family and friends. Someone gave us an old style waterbed that was cold and very bouncy when you moved.
We had a couple of Archie Bunker style easy chairs, didn't have a sofa till much later. Dining set was from DH's grandparents (and DSIL still uses it today). My parents gave us towels and dishes. A friend of mine had bought double sets of frying pans, she gave us the second set (and we used them for close to 30 years, have only recently started to replace them). I loved going into Salvation Army, Goodwill and other thrift stores to see what I could find. (And I found some good stuff!) We didn't vacation for a long time, and most of our vacations before we had kids were "working" vacations at home, painting or doing yardwork or something like that. Oh, and the car I drove was a fleet car that I got super cheap - it was a hideous color and had the name of a comany on the back, but it got me to school and work so I was happy to have it. I agree, when I look back on it, those years were pretty fun!
Living expenses have gone up so much since then, tho. I've mentioned on other threads like this that many college graduates I know are moving home in their mid to late 20s because, after a while of trying to pay bills and college loans, they realize they're never going to get ahead and wind up living with mom and dad for a while to pay down the loans. I think that often they are a necessary evil, but I'd be very careful with them because, while they seem great now, when payment is due it can be really difficult, especially in this day and age.
Anyway, congratulations to your DD, and I wish her well with her studies!