put an end to this wrote:
Anyone else aware of this? Why the hell are we paying for these people to sit around playing with books and papers. These PhD people are playing the system. I don’t think people realize that these people are having expenses covered to essentially jack off while we work.
If this shocks you, it will absolutely kill you to know that if you are bright and in a field like engineering or statistics where consulting opportunities are plentiful, you can actually get your PhD for free, get a healthy stipend, hold a paid job, and do consulting on the side. My (admittedly too many) years in graduate school took me from poverty to riches. I was in debt before I started and saved over $100K/year over the course of 8 years in grad school. Twenty years later and I've rarely worried about money, and I retired a few years ago mostly on the growth of the money I made in grad school.
Oh, by the way, "we" don't pay for people to go to get PhDs. Stipends come from universities and foundations, and PhD students are expected to help faculty with their research/teaching in exchange for free tuition.