How Much Does a PhD Cost?#
One of the most common questions is also one of the biggest misconceptions out there. Its also something I did not realize when I was an undergraduate. You should be getting paid to do a Ph.D.
Any neuroscience Ph.D. program worth its salt will cover both your tuition and provide you with a stipend for your graduate career. You may have to provide teaching support (read, TA) or apply for grants on your own (generally a good thing) but you should be being paid. Will you get paid a lot of money? No (My annual salary was cut in half when I went from working in industry to starting my Ph.D.), but it should be enough to live on. If you are looking at a program that will not provide you with a stipend, stop and look elsewhere.
For a comparison of how much you can expect to get paid, check out: PhD Stipends. It is crowdsourced and self-reported, so take everything with a grain of salt, but it can provide a ballpark reference.
Application fees#
Now, while you should be paid for the Ph.D., the application often has a fee associated with it (often $75+ per application). If this is not a concern for you, great! If it is, you should know that you can get this fee waived in most cases.
Some programs and foundations try to promote graduate students of specific backgrounds or to specific schools and will cover or waive the application fee
Many programs will also provide a fee waiver code just by asking for one.