Finally have a story for this thread! (At least, I think it's my first).
I'm a grad student, so my "coworkers" are mostly grad students. Virtually all of the students in my college, engineering, are funded through a teaching assistant (TA) or research assistant (RA) position. As RAs, we get paid around $26k and have our tuition waived. This money comes out of a professor's research funds. TAs get paid somewhat less than that and also have our tuition waived, with that money coming out of the department's funds.
All professors here do their best to find funding for the students in their labs (they're hired as RAs). If a professor who is low on funding is approached by a student who wants him/her as a advisor, such a professor would simply say they don't have funding available and would instruct the student to find a different advisor. However, occasionally a professor has trouble finding funding for students after they've been hired (professors are not required to have 5 years of funding for a student on hand when they hire one).
One of my friends, unfortunately, is in that position. Her advisor wasn't able to find funding for her this semester. It happens sometimes. But here's the antimustachian part: her advisor recommended she not find a TA position, because it would slow her down from graduating, and instead just take out student loans.
Yeah. Take out student loans when a perfectly viable job is available (and my friend did disregard her advisor's advice and found a TA position). But remember, without a TA or RA position, my friend would not only have to pay for living expenses but also tuition, which is $14k a semester. Granted, TAing takes about 10-15 hours a week (though some classes will require closer to 20), so yes, it does slow her down from graduating. But seriously?
A cynic would say that the professor is being selfish. Before this incident, my friend told me several times her prof is trying to transition to an administrator role and wants to graduate her students as soon as possible.