Hi amyboo91! As for funding, I'm not sure. I'm in the same situation. I'm still waiting for my official documentation regarding the fellowship I was offered. I have, however, received the official acceptance letter. I'll update if I find out!
And for places to rent--it really depends. Toronto is overall pretty safe, but there are some areas on the east side of downtown that have high rates of homelessness, drug addicts, and muggings. This would be places like Sherbourne/Queen or around Moss Park. If you go west, you can get into areas that cater to both U of T and Ryerson students. The Annex is a beautiful neighbourhood, very student friendly (but not nearly all students, plenty of young families and older residents), and very cheap with a wide variety of places to get food and drinks. You will be paying a decent amount, though.
Right now I'm at College/Spadina and I'm looking to move more north/west to get more value for my money. I'll be biking to campus either way.
You'll want to take a look at the TTC lines before making any sort of decision. subway>streetcar, always. Ryerson can be accessed by Dundas and College stations.