this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2025
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... or the money to go on that journey
Maybe it's just my field, but every PhD program I've seen, applied to, attended, sent students to, etc... was basically paid for, outright. Mostly it's a matter of moving, which is a gigantic bitch.
Paid PhDs are only the norm in stem, and those are the exact subjects where academia is a huge pay cut compared to industry. Hell, I'll be taking a huge pay cut (in terms of net hourly wage) when I finish my master's and quit my part time job, that requires a bachelor's, and start a PhD.
Depends in if you include behavior and psych as STEM, I guess, then.
Yeah, should've specified, hard sciences
You already said STEM. Some universities I've worked with include psych in the STEM department. It is a science. Fuck saying "hard sciences" like some kind of tiered distinction.
And, to my previous point... every psych PhD I've come across has been paid for. Hell, my advisor even had the balls to say "if you're paying for a PhD, you're doing it wrong," when someone asked about funding during the interview.
It's a colloquial term. My best friend is a psychologist and she taught me that distinction (I'm not a native English speaker), and I genuinely didn't know some people took offense to it. Never meant for it to be tiered. I know psychology is a science, and a natural one at that. You're the one acting like your field is somehow special and better than others. I tried to be general and you said your field doesn't fit in, so 'you already said stem' makes zero sense.
Either way, I never said it was normal to pay for a PhD? I said it's a huge pay cut vs working and industry job, which not everyone can take. Some people have others financially depend on them, and they can't just decide to accept eating half of what they could otherwise for self fulfilment purposes.
It's paid, but (at least in my case) doesn't pay that much. It's barely enough to live off of if you're really careful with your money. I wouldn't have been able to do it without accumulating significant savings beforehand.
Don't you need a Graduate degree AND a Post Graduate degree to even be eligible for most PhDs?
It depends on the field, program of study, and institution. Some places want masters degrees coming in. Others, a bachelor's or postbacc, so they can do a combined "full tour" masters-through-PhD and they get to shape students as-is.