According to ROMIR Monitoring, people in Russia's Northwestern (38%) and Southern (41%) federal districts most frequently said they had financial difficulties when it came to paying for education. Four out of ten respondents that said they were incapable of paying lived in cities with a population of over a million or in rural areas. At the same time, towns with no more than 100,000 residents are home to 46% of those who can pay for higher education if necessary.
Interestingly, the younger respondents, the surer they are about their financial capacities or those of their families. Accordingly, 60% of Russians aged 18 to 24 said they could pay for education, whereas only every third (34%) of those 45 or over said they could.
The survey covered 1,600 people from more than 100 villages, towns and cities in all of Russia's federal districts. The margin of error did not exceed 3%.
