These topics usually make me really sad....

I was trying to go for a PhD in Physics, and every school I got accepted to could do nothing for me as far as living expenses. Some schools flat out told me that they no longer can offer my a spot once I told them of my status. Some schools offered tuition assistance but moving away to go for a PhD in any science, working in a lab/teaching for free as a requirement, and then working on the side to support yourself is truly impossible. There just aren't enough hours in the day and a PhD program is exhausting enough, and it's not even like med school where you can expect to make some serious money after you finish.

I personally decided to stay at home, was unable to matriculate at a state university close to home and had to pay a pretty high tuition out of pocket to take the necessary courses, and the help the university offered was pretty much negligible. So now I am at candidacy level but I cannot take the oral exam and at least leave with my masters because I am not matriculated, and even thinking about it makes my head hurt. God, whoever invented American bureaucracy should be burnt at the stake.

On a lighter note, I truly wish you the best of luck.