I'm in the Central US...
Due to low birth rates 18 years ago, many small US Universities and Colleges are hitting severe funding shortages now. Make sure where you go can cover you if your PI ends up short funded for any length of time. Most schools have rules to protect you if this occurs, but a few are always shady or understaffed. Better schools have large endowments.
I was just downsized from what was once a 44,000 student school ten years ago. Currently less then 25,000 total students, and only met this years minimum enrollment goal for continued government funding by 4 students. Many of that number are part time or commuter students. They sold the food concession, are looking at selling the public/private partnership new dorms, and the dorms go unoccupied because investors built nice new structures next to campus with lower costs, when they noticed the new dorms on campus. Partnership dorms are not making a profit, yet the University has to pay due to the contract. Tuition is capped by the state, and the permanent faculty-staff layoffs (>500) were Legion during Covid.
I'm told yearly parking permits will hit 700$ this year for faculty and staff, the parking lots, once ran by the University and heavily subsidized, are now ran by a contractor and owned by the County Port Authority. I used to pay 200$ a year total, and that was pre-tax payroll deduction, it isn't deductible now, due to the privatization.
If a PI has current students, he/she/it can probably generate these numbers for you. Be aware, research groups at declining schools face a difficult time getting further grants. Once the word gets out, and the teaching staff that can migrate do so, the reputation can take a severe hit. This means in any given group, you may have to work longer, faster, and harder for an upset, depressed Professor.
Choose Wisely. Without knowing you well, I will not say Go or No Go, but having worked with several hundred grads in my career, its not for everyone, and yet experiences can be fantastic. There is a bit of a lottery to it. Some change groups, some quit, some become world class. It depends on YOUR attitude. The great majority of the students I have worked with never write, never call, and never want to come back for a visit. If I had Ten Dollars for every abandoned desk, issued laptop, and hundreds of unmarked sample bottles I have had to dispose of, because newly hooded Graduates RUN for the door, unless they are Post-Docs or part of a Start-up . Simply because Grad School is TOUGH!
Many US States are in severe post Covid Cutbacks. Funding is TIGHT outside Biomedical fields. Consider Canada. Their funding is always tight, so they have a habit of choosing only the best for Grad School.
If you speak Arabic, Spanish or German, you may have better options elsewhere.
No matter what, if you are not proficient at Math, Extreme Patience, Spoken and Written English, Teaching Undergrads, Doing your own Equipment Repairs, Living on Five Hours Sleep, and Teaching Yourself Everything! Think Twice. In most states Grad Students do not receive health care, but you may not be taxed on your income, either. In many places, forty hour week limits do not apply for Grads, you are not considered a paid employee, your reward is your intangible Masters or Doctorate. Medicine, Science, and Engineering Post Graduate Students usually get stipends, other majors may not be fully funded.
Quitting the graduate job is an instant fail, and likely trip home. There is only Do, No Undo.. However, if things are not working out, on campus transfers do happen. Never say "I Quit" to a PI.
I know more then one student who got sick and thus have massive health care bills from the lack of insurance. Ask about this if your field is somewhat Dangerous. Some home countries cover their overseas students, or subsidize health care. Don't worry, if you are sick, you will be seen at the ER or Campus Health clinic to ensure your safety.
Vacation time is precious, most students work long six day weeks, rarely get to their mother country, if at all, and usually take one highly cherished week off a year. Few travel more then 50 miles / 80 Kilometers from campus, unless their PI takes the group on a trip, or an academic conference is coming up. . If there is death in your immediate family, you will, however, be sent home with time, prayer, care, and blessings.
That reminds me, if at a highly technical school, if there is not a well worn, dirty looking, huge machine shop filled with grizzled old guys,,, Run Away. Once in a while that might be a tight, small shop, with a really experienced specialist. If you do not find either, RUN AWAY! :-) Having a glassblower on campus is a serious benefit.
PIs can be highly variable, from being your new stepmom, to venomous. Most are very, very demanding and "needy" due to "Publish or Parish" A few, mostly the extremely brilliant, are just plain mean and mentally ill
If you can, check out the place before signing up. Watch the visa requirements if you vacation here for the visit, there may be a delay before you can return.
Some students find work, and stay for long times, often decades, on a non-immigration guest worker basis. It does happen. Marrying an American, well before you graduate, may expose you to a 3.5 year accelerated citizenship if you graduate with a Doctorate. With our divorce laws, however, don't plan on this method ~!
Our Military, will, under certain circumstances, pay for medical school, nursing, or other degrees in exchange for X number of years of service, but you must swear allegiance and serve. At the end of that, you likely will have full citizenship.
You know your a research tech when you find desks with warm coffee cups, stale food, abandoned sneakers, and a goodbye note on graduation day. (LOL!)
I have a Non-Doctorate, Not So Honoris Causa from the School of Hard Knocks, Reading, Rioting,and Rithmatic (Inside Joke) because while only a Lowly Senior Technician, I had to learn the Grad's experiments as well or better then they did. Eighteen Years of Academic Service Here. . I wish you well.
Steve