So...you're nearing the end of your undergraduate education and you think that you want to go on with your schooling and earn a Ph.D.  Sadly, your undergraduate education has cost you so much that you're now worrying about piling on any more debt on top of your already-considerable student loans.  You know that Medical School costs a fortune...and assume that getting a Ph.D. would represent the same type of financial drain.  Don't make this assumption and miss a great opportunity to better your life!

In fact, you are paid while you earn your doctorate in the sciences and engineering.  Doctoral students generally earn between $21,000 and $28,000 per year as a stipend (monthly pay).  A minimal teaching load is sometimes required, but not always.  Tuition, even out-of-state tuition, is generally paid by the program (if it is not, then generally you get a larger stipend with which to pay it).  Some programs even include an insurance allowance for their Ph.D. students.

So how does this work?  If you're accepted into a doctoral program, the program generally has money reserved for the "slot" that you are filling (they have a certain number of funded slots per year).  Or, the program may match you with additional scholarships or fellowships that the school or program has already obtained from the federal government or charitable organizations.  Each month you will receive money for completing requirements of the program.  The first two years of your studies this will involve completing courses, rotating through various laboratories, and then beginning your own research in a lab that you've selected.  Some programs  continue funding a student for 5 or more years- it all depends on the source of funding.  Sometimes the program will require your research mentor (the person whose lab you are working in) to begin funding you off of his/her own grants;  researchers can request money specifically for student support when they write certain types of federal grants.

If you'd like to benefit your own career and take control of your funding, you may also write your own grant proposal and submit it to a funding agency.  You can write these very early in your career as a graduate student; some even are awarded prior to students being accepted to a particular school.  There are many sources of funding available all with differing requirements and emphases..  Some of the most lucrative and prestigious for those performing research health-related research come from the National Institutes of Health and are called Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (F31) http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-07-002.html .  There are also specialized Kirschstein grants designed to promote diversity in health related research http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-481.html .  Those performing basic research that does not have an immediate health application, often apply for fellowships from the National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201 .  Beyond these grants, there many others that are available to enterprising doctoral students.  Many other resources exist on the web to assist you in finding funding opportunities: GrantsNet: http://www.grantsnet.org/ ; UCLA GRAPES database: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/grpinst.htm and another good database at Cornell university http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/ . 

Overall...you can earn a doctorate without burying yourself in debt...