[wenc]

There's typically no debt doing a STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Math) Ph.D. in most places, unless you're talking about undergrad debt.

STEM Ph.D.s are like jobs. You get paid a stipend (the financial package typically requires you to work as a TA/RA).

A few data points. My Ph.D. program paid me $30k/yr tax free over 4 years. Prestige scholarship holders were able to get even more, maybe $45k-50k. (my numbers are old -- I got my Ph.D. nearly a decade ago)

I've had friends at Princeton who received packages in the range of $28k-$35k/yr from their engineering depts.

Not a huge amount of money, but enough for a single grad student to survive on. I have a friend who did a Ph.D. in Math at Stanford, and he didn't have to pay cent.

Debt is generally not a common issue for STEM Ph.Ds.

Humanities/Social Science Ph.Ds. on the other hand are a completely different ball game. I've heard that many live in relative penury and rarely finish on-time (taking anywhere from 5-7 years). Humanities Ph.Ds. please add data points.

[jroesch]

It is still pretty much the same, the UW stipend in Seattle is enough to rent an apartment in a nice neighborhood and eat well. Not an extravagant life but no one is going even 20k into debt, let alone 50,100,200k that people do for other professional paths.

I know Stanford PhDs have even higher stipends to offset the costs of Palo Alto.

[seph-reed]

I did not know that debt was a mitigated issue for Ph.D's. Thank you for informing me.

If that's the case, and he can literally just light his diploma on fire and walk out into the world without any huge burdens (like debts), then it does seem strange to say it ruined his life.

Perhaps he let someone go who he really adored and is being romantic. Or maybe he thinks he has to keep following this path.. but if he's free to start over, there's no need to worry about the old ruined life anymore.