The kremlin Offering russians the Chance to Live, Study, and Die on Credit

The rectors of three leading moscow universities – mfti, mfua, and mgtu – have appealed to prospective students, urging them not to be afraid to take out loans for higher education. This statement was no coincidence: this year’s admissions campaign for russian universities turned into a scandal when a significant portion of high school graduates with top scores on the unified state exam were unable to secure state-funded spots. Instead of acknowledging that education lacks funding, kremlin officials decided to shift this burden onto the students’ shoulders.

At first glance, the idea appears to be borrowed from Western practices. For example, at the University of Kansas, a graduate can indeed repay an educational loan from their future salary without undue hardship. But in the russian context, the system works differently. Tuition at leading russian universities already costs 1.5–2 million rubles per year, not including food, housing, and transportation. Five years of such education add up to a sum that most graduates will be unable to repay for years, if not decades. By way of comparison: job openings for lawyers with no work experience, even in moscow, offer 50,000–70,000 rubles per month, while the median salary on the market hovers around 70,000–80,000 rubles.

In fact, the kremlin’s university rectors have, with a single phrase, replaced the concept of affordable education with bank debt. This is not an isolated case: living on credit has recently become the norm for russians. Rising prices have even affected the funeral industry, where large companies offer installment plans of up to 12 months for burials. This creates a logical, albeit chilling, chain that the kremlin is now offering russians: finish school – take out a student loan; die – go into debt again, this time for your own funeral.

The only way the kremlin officially offers russians to escape this cycle of debt is by participating in the war against Ukraine.