Also to be said on the subject of paying for higher education: bribes are one thing, but in Russia in order to get the kids to a good uni parents hire tutors in the last 1-2 years of high school, that can also cost quite some. Sometimes there are courses organized by universities specifically for themselves for future first years. I once went to a contest for one of the universities (some run those to preselect future students before official exams) and while i was one of the best students in my school i'd never get there because apparently stuff people learned in those courses was so much more advanced than school course. A person who didn't attend those couldn't've done it.
And yes, if you don't score enough to enter a free sit you either enroll as a student who pays tuition fees or bribe uni authorities in advance to be pushed into a free seat. And of course there are those notoriously known exam bribes.
