Sure, but personally I would argue that it almost always makes more financial sense to do a combined Masters-PhD (i.e. a research degree), especially in fields with plentiful funding.
That was the case for me in Ireland when I did my doctorate.
That was the case for me in Ireland when I did my doctorate.
I mean, PhD's are great if you want to learn how to structure and finish a long-term project, and learn how to research. I definitely don't regret mine, but I remember looking the the cost structure of masters vs PhD's and concluding that masters were for suckers as you could always just finish a PhD in 18 months with a research masters.
Generally, more hard-sciencey type fields tend to have better funding (physics, engineering that sort of thing). They also have less PhD students, because there are more opportunities in industry so less competition for places.
It seems like CS is one of those disciplines also, tbh.