I think it's particularly bad in the US. When I was looking to get a PhD here, I emailed a ton of professors asking if it was possible to do the PhD part time

I think it's particularly bad in the US. When I was looking to get a PhD here, I emailed a ton of professors asking if it was possible to do the PhD part time so I could keep my job, and most of them just didn't get back to me, and the ones that did acted like what I suggested was a completely ridiculous proposition. On the other hand, when I looked at UK universities, every professor I emailed got back to me, and while not all of them were amenable to part time remote PhDs, all of them did know someone who was and was happy to forward my request over and they actually did! I'm not 100% sure why the UK seems to be a little less horrible on this front, because eventually I was able to get into a a PhD program with the express understanding that it's part time, and I have a regular job.