1 skilled research staff will out produce even 5 early PhD students, no doubt. But I would be inclined to hire the students. There are more funding opportuniti

1 skilled research staff will out produce even 5 early PhD students, no doubt. But I would be inclined to hire the students. There are more funding opportunities for them (NSF prioritizes students and departments fund TAs) and I’m expected to graduate students. In my field (CS), research staff and postdocs disappear too quickly anyway.