[vhartman]

I am currently doing a PhD in Europe. The duration of 3 or 4 years is only really true for hard sciences/engineering, and can be much longer in other fields.

The self-support part is not true for the UK at least - I got admitted to the program but did not get funding, so I could have taken a loan. In Germany, I am employed as a 'research assistant' during my PhD, and while underpaid compared to FAANG (or other tech firms), my salary is around the median wage.