Physics (Ph.D.) Ranked in 2006* US News:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2. Stanford University (CA)

3. California Institute of Technology

Also:

University of Colorado – Boulder

Harvard

Cornell

University of Illinois Urbana

Princeton

UCLA

Michigan State

University of Washington

That is the list of schools that offer aid to their PhD students. In the US, very few PhD students pay for their education . Nearly all schools grant some sort of aid to their PhD students — either a Fellowship, a Research Assistantship or a Teaching Assistantship. These aid packages usually pay for tuition and fees and include a monthly stipend that should cover room and board.

These aid packages are available to foreign students. About 2/3 of the students in my PhD program were from outside the US — and we all had aid.