Yep, referring just to CS. Different even from other STEM fields. In CS, stipends are below median income, but get close to median when students do the occasio

Yep, referring just to CS. Different even from other STEM fields. In CS, stipends are below median income, but get close to median when students do the occasional R&D internship. The main CS grad students I've seen struggle are those with families (ex: someone I respect had single income supporting his wife and ~3 kids!), big spenders, and those ignoring (many) corporate R&D internship offers. For everyone else, it's a nice life, and not hard to come out with savings. Likewise, if you're used to living a beyond-median-income lifestyle, e.g., software engineer returning to grad school, it may be hard to go back to living like the rest of America. As others noted, much harder is the opportunity cost. Why would a student turn down an offer for 3X+ the US median income doing ads etc at some FAANG/VC co for a long, below-median, and relatively thankless & isolating phd experience? "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads".