<p>Schools give funding for phds because what your doing your phd in is in demand. Is your history phd in demand? Is there a specialization that is needed? Or a hot topic issue? For example some schools fund for a bio defense phd, while others do not. Bio defense, even from the policy stand point, on some school sites, is a mostly political science degree; usually not funded, but this one is. You need to see if your school degree your going for is going to be in demand and needed.</p>