If you are getting a PhD in the US, and you aren't getting paid for it, then you shouldn't be in that program.
Technically my program charges tuition, but everyone gets a paycheck every month, and the department pays itself your tuition fees. I just owe the school $20 a semester for "student fees".
Not free, but the people of Norway feel like education is important enough that they choose to pay for it through taxes rather than make the individual pay.
I have never heard of a PhD student who isn't getting paid to do research. Even at the Master's level, most students were getting paid, with the exception of the coursework people. Are there people who are actually paying for their PhDs? If so that is definitely not the norm.
Wow that's the worst. I would NEVER pay for a PhD out of my own pocket. I mean, yes the PhD isn't "free" in the sense of I don't pay tuition. I do but it's included in my funding.
I asked a former university staffer about it once and they told me the money doesn't exist. The university "charges" me x dollars per term, but in my funding there is conveniently an extra x dollars per term in addition to my y salary from the university. So I then tell the university in my funding forms that they owe me x+y dollars and they are like "oh, well we have to deduct x dollars for your tuition". So the net effect is the money doesn't actually exist.
Some times the student's home country will pay for their PhD tuition and expenses abroad, which means that from the university's perspective they're a paying student.
The catch is that the student then signs that they will return home for a period (e.g. two years) immediately after the PhD or be liable to pay the scholarship back.
[source: am an ex PhD student, have seen friends under this arrangement].
I am. There's the university tuition, other related (so called "administrative") costs and (of course) time & energy. Also, some "reading" material (mostly books).
Although many (but not most) of my colleagues receive grants or scholarships, it is common (here) to pay the PhD out of your own pocket. But I do live in Portugal, so factor in the economical (but, mostly, social) context.
I didn't know that people were paying to do a PhD anywhere on earth. In France I'm fairly sure it is even forbidden to do a PhD without getting paid (if you don't you have to justify that you have incomes by other means or something to be able to register as a PhD student).
Right but that's usually very low, isn't it? I mean if it's approximately a tenth of what you get paid by month and you have to pay it only once per year (which is the case for France), it doesn't really count as paying to do a PhD.
Some universities do not really fund a student. They are low but I have heard of such cases. I was surprised and I find it quite weird. I wonder if students actually take up such an option.
There is a cultural difference in whether PhD studies are seen as an add-on education after normal university studies, or if it is an employment as a teacher+researcher.
In Sweden it's the latter, so students are employed as PhD students and get a salary (though usually not very competitive compared to what you would make if working elsewhere).
The fact that the PhD students spend a lot of time teaching and not only educating themselves and working towards their thesis is what makes take around 5 years, rather than, say 3 years.
Ya, it seems to be the same as in France then: PhD students here have a real work contract and a student status (which comes as anywhere with many advantages). However we have mostly 3 years long PhDs, and the teaching hours are limited.
The law actually states the minimum salary for a PhD student. It is approximately 1650€ "brut" (before social taxes) which amounts to 1350€ "net" (what you actually get each month). If you have a "mission d'enseignement" (teaching hours), which is not mandatory, then you have to be teaching for 64 hours per years (that is not counting the time you spend preparing for the course or the time spent correcting students assignments of course) and should not occupy more than 1/6 of your working time. Your salary is then 2000€ "brut", which amounts 1650€ "net".
Public PhD funding almost always stays at this level of salary. However you can be paid more than this, for instance if you are paid on a project grant money or if you are in CIFRE (which means you are paid by a company for which you have to spend a defined part of your time, this is often but not always incompatible with having a "mission d'enseignement"). But then your a lot less free to do whatever you want (since the project or the company mst of the time have strongly fixed goals).
Astronomical library fines, really? I never heard of library fines that were more than a few dozen of euros for student. Well I guess that is yet another advantage of being in France that I didn't even knew I had :-).
But no I did meant student status, which means most museums are free for instance, and discounts for many things such as public transportations, movie theaters, etc.
I'm a PhD student in Sweden. I'm expected to work 20% of my time for the University (teaching duties, conference organisation, mentoring new phd students). I'm getting payed a little bit lower than what the industry would pay. It's possible that salaries in the industry would also raise quicker. My PhD is supposed to take 4 years of research, but add in the 20% and you have 5 years.
I have very high job security and a salary that's a bit lower than a coder/consultant starting salary. Also, my work is much more interesting (to me) than what it would have been out there. It's a great deal for me, but YMMV.
> I'm getting payed a little bit lower than what the industry would pay.
You mean for a "normal" (if I may) industry job or for doing a PhD within the industry?
Because before starting my PhD, the salaries that I've been proposed by recruiters from various companies were more like the double (and sometimes more, like with Google or high frequency trading firms) of what I'm making as a PhD student (but for a way less fun job, as you say).
In Germany I get paid around 3.500 Euro brutto per Month for pursuing my PhD at my university. Same conditions as the parent post: expected duration 5 years, 20% work time dedicated to university,...
That's around ~44.000 Euros per year (including perks).
I interviewed in 4 companies before deciding to go for the PhD (all engineering jobs). The salaries varied from 45.000 to 55.000 Euros brutto per year, with one offer at 60.000 Euros.
Friends working in industry make around 50.000 Euros which matches with my experience. Making a bit less for working in _your_ PhD is a really good deal here. If you find the right PhD for you it can be very gratifying (plus you are working for yourself). OTOH my friends in industry work way less hours than I do, so if I had a family I would probably had never gone the PhD way.
This could happen in the US as well, if I'm not mistaken. There is normally a requirement that you have to be in "good standing" during the first one or two years of your PhD when you're mostly doing course work.
Yes, I have a sneaking suspicion that an MPhil (= failed PhD in a lot of fields, so useless) is sometimes being sold as a PhD experience to people that are simply not good enough.
At least in the USA, it often depends on whether your PI is on the ball with regard to grant applications, or if they're getting hit by the current rash of funding problems and you end up bouncing between a series of loans and TA appointments.
You are "fairly sure" but very wrong. Let us clarify (all of the following is about French PhD programmes).
1. The criteria for selecting a student for a PhD are publicly established by each doctoral school. They do not require any justification of income/wealth.
2. PhD students are not required to sign any contract or to be paid any salary.
2.1. Some of them have a "doctoral contract" (a new thing created in 2009 specially for PhD students), some are public servants, some have signed regular employment contracts of three years specifically for the PhD. However, a large part do not get any benefit from the doctoral school: they are either unemployed, or have a job unrelated to their PhD.
2.2. The director of the doctoral school is supposed to check that all conditions, including financial ones, are met so the student can work well.
* * *
Addendum:
- At the beginning of the 2000s, 30% of students dropping out of their PhD said it was "for financial reasons" [1].
- PhD students are almost always enrolled in a university, or in an institution related to the doctoral school. This is about 500€/year if you are lucky enough to be French, but can go up to 7000€/year if you are from outside the EU.
- Some institutions, for instance some Écoles des Mines or the École Polytechnique, still pay PhD students an "informal salary" without any employment contract [2]. This is in a grey zone, legally speaking.
Okay. In my doctoral school and the 3 or 4 other that I know of (because friends are there) it's not possible to register as a PhD student without an income justification (you of course don't need to provide it if you are paid by state or one of the universities/school to which the doctoral school is attached). I wasn't entirely sure if it was just a coincidence or if it was the law. Thanks for clarifying this.
BTW, just saw your webpage: hi from an Ulmite to a Cachanais ;).
Hi back, and thank you for sharing your personal story. This confirms that some doctoral school directors actually enforce this verification of financial situation.
De Normalien à Normalien, bravo pour Ulm, moi j'étais même pas admissible ;-)
The director of my doctoral school is Christian Queinnec, of Lisp fame, and yes, he really is a great person.
Sinon, j'ai pas passé le concours :-p, j'étais étudiant au département informatique là bas, entré sur dossier après deux ans de fac d'informatique à Marseille. Anyway en informatique Cachan ou à Ulm à part la première année on fait vraiment la même chose :-).
Not in England and here in Scotland they are "free" to Scottish students studying in Scotland. If someone from out Scotland comes here to study then fees are charged and if a Scottish student goes elsewhere in the UK then fees are charged.
Not quite right - in Scotland, it's actually free for all EU students EXCEPT for English, Welsh, and Northern Irish students. And as mentioned above, it's free in the sense that students don't pay, but it's all subsidised by SAAS organisation. (nothing in life is "free", right?)
The explanation given to me was: it is possible to discriminate between students from different parts of an individual member state but not to discriminate against those from other parts of the EU.
Exactly that, plus Scots going to study in England had to pay their fees.
As a side note though, if Scotland becomes independent when voted later on this year, then "Thousands of English, Welsh and Northern Irish students will study at Scottish universities for free" [1]
> “So it is to some extent a similar case because it’s a new country and so I believe it’s going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, a new member state coming out of one of our countries getting the agreement of the others.”
See this is where everything just gets confusing... Scotland already IS a country by itself, as is England, NI, and Wales, so if Scotland were to become independent, it would in no way be a "new" country, would it? mhhhh, my head hurts.
It's difficult to answer, but I'd say yes. It doesn't in the sense that Scotland (nor does England, NI, Wales) have its own embassy in other countries, etc. All members of the United Kingdom are tightly integrated (e.g. Scotland doesn't issue money, but privately held banks-e.g. Bank of Scotland-do print money on behalf of central government) so it's really difficult to say but for the most part, it's more of its own country than now, I'd say.
There is no hard-and-fast rule as to what makes a country (aka "Nation State").
However, there are a few clues:
- Issues its own currency
- Recognised as a sovereign state by other countries
- Taxes its people
- Issues passports and polices its borders
The UK does all of these. As far as I'm aware Scotland does at most 1 of them.
A couple of other notes:
- Privately-held banks don't print money on behalf central government. Those 'Bank of Scotland' notes bear a promise (obligation) made by the Bank of Scotland, and not by any government.
- That England, NI, Wales don't have their own embassy in other countries is irrelevant. I'm not arguing that they are countries.
It's all very confusing then really... Scotland does issue its own money, but it's a shared currency (just the same as the Euro is a shared currency but countries that use the Euro issue their own). So would that count? Debatable.
No country within the United Kingdom itself issues passports, so for example you cannot have an English passport. They are all British Citizens who hold British passports (which confusingly isn't a UK passport, but a passport for Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
I'm really not sure how tax works in the UK. Scotland as well as other UK members all tax, but how that is then divided up internally, I have no idea...
When you say the UK does all of these, that doesn't mean England, NI, or Wales does all of them itself.
When I say they are printed on behalf of the government, I meant that the government decides how much money is printed. As far as I'm aware, Scottish banks who have the right to print money (e.g. Bank of Scotland) cannot simply print as much money as they would like. They're printing it on behalf of the governments guidelines etc. Confusingly though, Scottish printed money isn't even legal tender, not even in Scotland.
And anyway, I'm not arguing for Scotland's independence, but it seems to me that people usually think England is more of a country than Scotland. They're both part of the United Kingdom equally really.
Currently you do not have to pay a dime to do a PhD in the Netherlands. In fact, you are almost surely an employee of the university (not a "student") and get a salary of 2300+ EUR (gross) a month.
The 1.8k EUR applies to MA/MSc/BA. If part of the requirement to do a PhD is a to do a MSc degree and the programme is joint you might get a waver from the university for that 1.8k EUR. Also, most Dutch get that money back through the government stipend programme that "lends" people about 250EUR a month and gives them free travel across the whole country. At today's prices this package is worth 4000+ EUR. You only have to pay back that loan if you do not graduate in time (=+1 year of what is the duration of the programme), if you do graduate the loan is considered paid. Foreign students can get on this action by working one day a week, somewhere (incl. TA/RA/etc.). And then there are also various subsidies that students often qualify for. It is not unheard of to see a student in the Netherlands sporting 10k+ EUR income by working one day a week.
>Foreign students can get on this action by working one day a week, somewhere (incl. TA/RA/etc.).
This has changed, I used to get this but since 2014 my job (10 hours a week) does not qualify for it anymore. I think the new regulations allow only people working more than 16 hours per-week (not 100% sure on the exact number).
In the UK, in the sciences, a PhD place comes with funding from a research council. An institute gets funding for places, which they award.
For arts subjects (I believe), an application by the student for a particular project is made to a funding body. It is possible, however, to fund yourself if you cannot get funding. I know a very dedicated person who did this, funding with part time work. He's now a lecturer in a good university in the UK.
My understanding is that you're never guaranteed RC funding and, also, the cost of doing so is that you have to do the research particular to that grant; so you've either got to hope for something related to your field, or go for something close enough to keep you interested. I've heard (sorry: no citations) that here in the UK, around 60% of PhDs are actually self-funded -- to pay the tuition fees, mostly -- and while I don't know the breakdown, that also includes research in the sciences. The upside of self-funding is that you're free to research what you want, within reason (i.e., it's actually worthwhile, the university agrees and you can find a supervisor, etc.)
The title is a bit misleading. While it is true that Norwegian PhD students don't have to pay tuition, they're also salaried employees of the university. My PhD position pays at the lower end of what an engineer can expect to be paid in the public sector (and certainly lower than private sector), but it's still more than enough to live comfortably off: my salary is about 400k NOK (~66k USD, according to Google).
In Belgium you get paid to do a PhD. For engineers it is competitive to market rates, for all other majors it's even much higher than what they receive in the private sector (but harder to get into/less possibilities.
Undergrad for free == interesting and not all that common (though does happen elsewhere in EU, e.g. Austria)
PhD for free != interesting, I'm paid a tax-free stipend (UK) which also covers tuition fees (same for MSc). There are "self-funded" positions advertised but it's generally junior faculty trying their luck for overseas students. I've never heard of anyone actually paying out of their own pocket for PhD study in the EU.
> I've never heard of anyone actually paying out of their own pocket for PhD study in the EU.
That probably also indicates that phd is only for those who managed to find funding. Is it hard to secure funding for studies in the UK for the UK or EU nationals?
I agree. Honestly I'd say no (off-hand), obviously high-tier institutions are competitive but PhDs are cheap labour for senior academics and cheap to fund from a research council perspective.
I'm doing a PhD in the UK, and there certainly are people who are doing a PhD without funding (and paying quite high tuition, outside the EU is nearly £20k/yr), although they are a minority. I would guess 10%, less in STEM subjects. I started my program with only about half my funding in place while making plans to have secondary income to help fund my studies. Fortunately I was able to find the funding for the remaining part of my program, but it seems that most who try to find funding once starting their studies aren't successful in finding it (at least in the UK).
Acceptance to the program is quite a bit easier than getting funding. I wouldn't recommend studying without funding - in addition to the expense I have seen these students are often treated as second class.
In Canada, most people were funded in research assistantships coming from their PI, or had independent scholarships. This covered tuition and about $10,000 salary for research-based Masters or $15,000 for PhD, and could be supplemented by about $5000/year by teaching. This is marginally enough to live on without loans if you were thrifty and don't have dependents. I didn't know of anyone who wasn't paid (in Engineering - I think there were in Arts).
Its worth noting especially for STEM people that the biggest cost is probably opportunity cost compared to the salary (or start up) you could be doing instead of a PhD.
TL;DR - not paying tuition for a PhD isn't newsworthy.
It used to be the same way in Sweden, all educations were free even for all foreigners. The hope was that once the foreigners took their exam they would stay in the country.
However, it didn't pan out too well – now foreigners from non-EU countries have to pay around (varies somewhat at the different universities) 9000USD per semester.
So, the point of the linked article isn't that you are expected to get your PhD without being paid for your research work. Most if not all PhDs in Norway are paid or sponsored.
The point is that you can, having finished high school, go to Norway and get the whole 8-9 years of bachelor->masters->phd education completely free of tuition fees (disregarding the nominal ~100/year enrolment fee).
66 comments
[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 134 ms ] threadTechnically my program charges tuition, but everyone gets a paycheck every month, and the department pays itself your tuition fees. I just owe the school $20 a semester for "student fees".
[NB "free at the point of delivery" is how the UK NHS (all 4 of them) have always described their services]
Yes, there are. I know Cornell(USA) has had such positions. But yes, it is definitely not a norm.
I asked a former university staffer about it once and they told me the money doesn't exist. The university "charges" me x dollars per term, but in my funding there is conveniently an extra x dollars per term in addition to my y salary from the university. So I then tell the university in my funding forms that they owe me x+y dollars and they are like "oh, well we have to deduct x dollars for your tuition". So the net effect is the money doesn't actually exist.
What subjects were these PhDs in by the way?
I am talking specifically about Computer Science. This is not even a modern instance. The first case I've heard about is in 1999.
The catch is that the student then signs that they will return home for a period (e.g. two years) immediately after the PhD or be liable to pay the scholarship back.
[source: am an ex PhD student, have seen friends under this arrangement].
Although many (but not most) of my colleagues receive grants or scholarships, it is common (here) to pay the PhD out of your own pocket. But I do live in Portugal, so factor in the economical (but, mostly, social) context.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country...
Some universities ask for tuition fee.
In Sweden it's the latter, so students are employed as PhD students and get a salary (though usually not very competitive compared to what you would make if working elsewhere).
The fact that the PhD students spend a lot of time teaching and not only educating themselves and working towards their thesis is what makes take around 5 years, rather than, say 3 years.
The law actually states the minimum salary for a PhD student. It is approximately 1650€ "brut" (before social taxes) which amounts to 1350€ "net" (what you actually get each month). If you have a "mission d'enseignement" (teaching hours), which is not mandatory, then you have to be teaching for 64 hours per years (that is not counting the time you spend preparing for the course or the time spent correcting students assignments of course) and should not occupy more than 1/6 of your working time. Your salary is then 2000€ "brut", which amounts 1650€ "net".
Public PhD funding almost always stays at this level of salary. However you can be paid more than this, for instance if you are paid on a project grant money or if you are in CIFRE (which means you are paid by a company for which you have to spend a defined part of your time, this is often but not always incompatible with having a "mission d'enseignement"). But then your a lot less free to do whatever you want (since the project or the company mst of the time have strongly fixed goals).
But no I did meant student status, which means most museums are free for instance, and discounts for many things such as public transportations, movie theaters, etc.
I have very high job security and a salary that's a bit lower than a coder/consultant starting salary. Also, my work is much more interesting (to me) than what it would have been out there. It's a great deal for me, but YMMV.
You mean for a "normal" (if I may) industry job or for doing a PhD within the industry?
Because before starting my PhD, the salaries that I've been proposed by recruiters from various companies were more like the double (and sometimes more, like with Google or high frequency trading firms) of what I'm making as a PhD student (but for a way less fun job, as you say).
That's around ~44.000 Euros per year (including perks).
I interviewed in 4 companies before deciding to go for the PhD (all engineering jobs). The salaries varied from 45.000 to 55.000 Euros brutto per year, with one offer at 60.000 Euros.
Friends working in industry make around 50.000 Euros which matches with my experience. Making a bit less for working in _your_ PhD is a really good deal here. If you find the right PhD for you it can be very gratifying (plus you are working for yourself). OTOH my friends in industry work way less hours than I do, so if I had a family I would probably had never gone the PhD way.
1. The criteria for selecting a student for a PhD are publicly established by each doctoral school. They do not require any justification of income/wealth.
2. PhD students are not required to sign any contract or to be paid any salary.
2.1. Some of them have a "doctoral contract" (a new thing created in 2009 specially for PhD students), some are public servants, some have signed regular employment contracts of three years specifically for the PhD. However, a large part do not get any benefit from the doctoral school: they are either unemployed, or have a job unrelated to their PhD.
2.2. The director of the doctoral school is supposed to check that all conditions, including financial ones, are met so the student can work well.
* * *
Addendum:
- At the beginning of the 2000s, 30% of students dropping out of their PhD said it was "for financial reasons" [1].
- PhD students are almost always enrolled in a university, or in an institution related to the doctoral school. This is about 500€/year if you are lucky enough to be French, but can go up to 7000€/year if you are from outside the EU.
- Some institutions, for instance some Écoles des Mines or the École Polytechnique, still pay PhD students an "informal salary" without any employment contract [2]. This is in a grey zone, legally speaking.
* * *
[1] Philippe Moguérou, Jake Murdoch, Jean-Jacques Paul. "Les déterminants de l’abandon en thèse", 10es Journées d'études Céreq, 2003-05-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928014312/http://www.cereq.f...
[2] Anne Jouan. "Des doctorants étrangers travaillent encore au noir", Le Figaro, 2008-10-20. http://www.lefigaro.fr/formation/2008/10/20/01015-20081020AR...
BTW, just saw your webpage: hi from an Ulmite to a Cachanais ;).
De Normalien à Normalien, bravo pour Ulm, moi j'étais même pas admissible ;-)
Sinon, j'ai pas passé le concours :-p, j'étais étudiant au département informatique là bas, entré sur dossier après deux ans de fac d'informatique à Marseille. Anyway en informatique Cachan ou à Ulm à part la première année on fait vraiment la même chose :-).
As a side note though, if Scotland becomes independent when voted later on this year, then "Thousands of English, Welsh and Northern Irish students will study at Scottish universities for free" [1]
[1]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/102...
This assumes that an independent Scotland would be a member of the EU, which is far from certain:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/impossible...
i.e. If a country splits into two parts surely you have two new countries.
See this is where everything just gets confusing... Scotland already IS a country by itself, as is England, NI, and Wales, so if Scotland were to become independent, it would in no way be a "new" country, would it? mhhhh, my head hurts.
However, there are a few clues:
- Issues its own currency
- Recognised as a sovereign state by other countries
- Taxes its people
- Issues passports and polices its borders
The UK does all of these. As far as I'm aware Scotland does at most 1 of them.
A couple of other notes:
- Privately-held banks don't print money on behalf central government. Those 'Bank of Scotland' notes bear a promise (obligation) made by the Bank of Scotland, and not by any government.
- That England, NI, Wales don't have their own embassy in other countries is irrelevant. I'm not arguing that they are countries.
it's more of its own country than now, I'd say.
Do you live in Scotland?
No country within the United Kingdom itself issues passports, so for example you cannot have an English passport. They are all British Citizens who hold British passports (which confusingly isn't a UK passport, but a passport for Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
I'm really not sure how tax works in the UK. Scotland as well as other UK members all tax, but how that is then divided up internally, I have no idea...
When you say the UK does all of these, that doesn't mean England, NI, or Wales does all of them itself.
When I say they are printed on behalf of the government, I meant that the government decides how much money is printed. As far as I'm aware, Scottish banks who have the right to print money (e.g. Bank of Scotland) cannot simply print as much money as they would like. They're printing it on behalf of the governments guidelines etc. Confusingly though, Scottish printed money isn't even legal tender, not even in Scotland.
(note that it's significantly more expensive for foreign students though)
The 1.8k EUR applies to MA/MSc/BA. If part of the requirement to do a PhD is a to do a MSc degree and the programme is joint you might get a waver from the university for that 1.8k EUR. Also, most Dutch get that money back through the government stipend programme that "lends" people about 250EUR a month and gives them free travel across the whole country. At today's prices this package is worth 4000+ EUR. You only have to pay back that loan if you do not graduate in time (=+1 year of what is the duration of the programme), if you do graduate the loan is considered paid. Foreign students can get on this action by working one day a week, somewhere (incl. TA/RA/etc.). And then there are also various subsidies that students often qualify for. It is not unheard of to see a student in the Netherlands sporting 10k+ EUR income by working one day a week.
This has changed, I used to get this but since 2014 my job (10 hours a week) does not qualify for it anymore. I think the new regulations allow only people working more than 16 hours per-week (not 100% sure on the exact number).
In the UK, in the sciences, a PhD place comes with funding from a research council. An institute gets funding for places, which they award.
For arts subjects (I believe), an application by the student for a particular project is made to a funding body. It is possible, however, to fund yourself if you cannot get funding. I know a very dedicated person who did this, funding with part time work. He's now a lecturer in a good university in the UK.
This also applies for non-citizens.
PhD for free != interesting, I'm paid a tax-free stipend (UK) which also covers tuition fees (same for MSc). There are "self-funded" positions advertised but it's generally junior faculty trying their luck for overseas students. I've never heard of anyone actually paying out of their own pocket for PhD study in the EU.
That probably also indicates that phd is only for those who managed to find funding. Is it hard to secure funding for studies in the UK for the UK or EU nationals?
Acceptance to the program is quite a bit easier than getting funding. I wouldn't recommend studying without funding - in addition to the expense I have seen these students are often treated as second class.
In Canada, most people were funded in research assistantships coming from their PI, or had independent scholarships. This covered tuition and about $10,000 salary for research-based Masters or $15,000 for PhD, and could be supplemented by about $5000/year by teaching. This is marginally enough to live on without loans if you were thrifty and don't have dependents. I didn't know of anyone who wasn't paid (in Engineering - I think there were in Arts).
Its worth noting especially for STEM people that the biggest cost is probably opportunity cost compared to the salary (or start up) you could be doing instead of a PhD.
TL;DR - not paying tuition for a PhD isn't newsworthy.
However, it didn't pan out too well – now foreigners from non-EU countries have to pay around (varies somewhat at the different universities) 9000USD per semester.
The point is that you can, having finished high school, go to Norway and get the whole 8-9 years of bachelor->masters->phd education completely free of tuition fees (disregarding the nominal ~100/year enrolment fee).