<p>^ I wasn’t saying grad students were employees. I was comparing hiring of employees to choosing amongst applicants for funding. Based on what you’re saying, it sounds like that’s probably the main reason behind funding PhD’s over master’s candidates. Most master’s students can’t turn out a product for the professor in just 2 years, so the prof doesn’t get the payback for doing all that “training” if the student finishes and leaves in 2 years. </p>
<p>(FWIW, though, most companies do care what an employee learns and how fast he or she learns it, and employers tend to hope that employees won’t need much supervision, as well.)</p>