[French Rage]

Lucky.  I applied to the CS MS in 2004.  The acceptance letter said they do not give financial aid and if I could not pay then I should not come.  (Those aren't the exact words, but it's disturbingly close.)  Granted the CS MS is only 5 quarters, so it's not that many quarters of tuition, and they figure you'll be able to earn enough to handle that in loans, and they are correct.

Lucky. Certainly, but Ph.D. programs are very different from Masters programs, and especially professional ones. At least when I was in grad school, Ph.D programs needed to provide aid to compete. I had several good friends in OR (operations research). None of the Masters students got any aid, all the PH.D. students did. Not sure how different it may be these days.

Pretty similar I imagine.  And I'm not complaining, mind you.  Professional degree holders get out and start earning sooner, whereas PhDs basically make research their job for the better part of a decade, so they need support.

[French Rage]

Lucky.  I applied to the CS MS in 2004.  The acceptance letter said they do not give financial aid and if I could not pay then I should not come.  (Those aren't the exact words, but it's disturbingly close.)  Granted the CS MS is only 5 quarters, so it's not that many quarters of tuition, and they figure you'll be able to earn enough to handle that in loans, and they are correct.

Lucky. Certainly, but Ph.D. programs are very different from Masters programs, and especially professional ones. At least when I was in grad school, Ph.D programs needed to provide aid to compete. I had several good friends in OR (operations research). None of the Masters students got any aid, all the PH.D. students did. Not sure how different it may be these days.

Pretty similar I imagine.  And I'm not complaining, mind you.  Professional degree holders get out and start earning sooner, whereas PhDs basically make research their job for the better part of a decade, so they need support.