If you focus your search on schools that provide assistanceships or fellowships, that will help your finances greatly. If you are interested in Neuroscience, you might be interested in the Neuroscience Cluster program at the University of Rochester.
For PhD students at U of R, the University Neuroscience/ Brian/Cognitive science departments cover full tuition (books are on your own) plus a yearly fellowship of approximately $22,000- it is more or less depending on the specific program of study you choose to follow. I have chosen not to apply for grad school starting in 06 as I feel I need the mental break, but I limited my initial search to schools that DID provide at least 80% assistance with the costs.
Dr. Dave Knill at U of R does a lot of research with statistics and probability modeling - if that sounds like something you'd be interested, lemme know and I can get you more info
