Is it reasonable to spend your own money on higher education in Russia.

 

Abstract: in this article, which considers the costs of obtaining higher education in Moscow as an investment in the future, the payback of higher education costs is calculated on the basis of correlation models using elements of the cost – benefit analysis.

Keywords: higher education, cost of education, return on investment in education, state financing of education, economic education.

 

Every year thousands of students from abroad and other regions of country came in Moscow to study and get a degree. Secondary education in Russia is partially subsidized by government of the country and local authorities. In recent years, universities have been funded by the state on a regulatory basis: money goes after the student. In Russia government spending on education reaches 3,5% of GDP in 2019 [4]. In other countries the same parameter varies from 5% in Switzerland to 2,9% in Japan (3,3% Italy, 3,6% Germany, 4,1% Korea, 4,2% USA, 4,4% Canada, 4,7% France and 4,9% in Great Britain).

Budgetary and extra-budgetary financing of education leads to high competition among students because as a rule budgetary places are in the minority. There are not enough budget places for all applicants, as traditionally the demand for programs is quite high. And hence the question arises - whether it is worth paying for a Russian higher education, the quality of which leaves much to be desired. To answer this question cost-benefit analysis was applied.

Cost of education in universities of Moscow is increasing from year to year. Looking into data from previous years prices and comparing them by current prices we can obtain the indices of average prices of education in Moscow universities. In order to make this it is possible to take average prices of education on different courses and universities. For example, the medicine, engineering, chemistry, IT. During the education process different methods of teaching are needed and different equipment is involved into education process, that is why sometimes it is irrelevant to compare cost of education on different courses.

Table 1 contains information about TOP Russian universities by cost of education. Practically all universities from this list are located in Moscow. The average cost of education among first 20 universities from the table is 392 250 rubles, which is equal to 5 373 USD.

 

Table 1 Average tuition fees at Russian universities, 2021   

Ranking	University name	Tuition fee (annual) in rubles
1	Moscow State Institute of International Relations	589 000
2	Russian School of Economics	580 000
3	National Research University Higher School of Economics	503 000
4	Russian Institute of Theater Arts	480 000
5	Russian State Institute of Cinematography. S.A. Gerasimova	470 000
6	Literary Institute named after A.M. Gorky	470 000
7	Moscow State University Lomonosov	411 000
8	Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation	377 000
9	Russian Academy of Foreign Trade	373 000
10	O. E. Kutafin Moscow State Law University	361 000
11	Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg	360 000
12	Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation	345 000
13	Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov	340 000
14	Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation	333 000
15	Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation	324 000
16	Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman	314 000
17	Russian State University of Oil and Gas named after Gubkin	308 000
18	State University of Land Management	306 000
19	Plekhanov Russian Economic University	302 000
20	Moscow State Linguistic University	299 000

Source: composed by author.

 

After organizing the data in the frequency distribution, it can be displayed with a graph as is shown on Figure 1. Group of less expensive universities is the most popular.

 

Figure 1 Distribution of Universities by cost of education

Source: composed by author.

 

Moreover, we considered dependence of the cost of education on the ruble exchange rate and macroeconomic indicators. In accordance with the inflation rate in Russia during this year, we can see that prices actually did not changed. Russian Federation inflation rates: 2017 – 2,5%; 2018 – 4,3%; 2019 – 3,0%; 2020 – 4,9%.

As the result we get 15,51% inflation during the period. From our analysis we know that cost of education increased by 14,76(6) %. This means that although, the nominal expenditure on education increased, real expenditure practically did not change and increased slowly.

Second point of investigation was dependence of the cost of education on the ruble exchange rate. For this reason, we compared ruble exchange rate with prices by applying correlation function. Data used is the average cost of economic education from 2017 to 2021 and the average dollar /ruble exchange rate during the same period.

Applying correlation formulae, we calculated that the correlation coefficient equals to 0,96703134, which indicates that an increase in the first variable would correspond to an increase in the second variable, thus implying a direct relationship between the variables, shows strong, practically perfect positive linear relationship.

Another interesting question that arises is what the salary of graduates should be in order to earn money invested into education and how long will it take. Many have heard the phrase "The best investment is investment in yourself" at least once in their lives. Usually this is the main thesis of educational organizations that attract new students to study. Next, we will check whether this statement is true. Studying under the university can be assessed as a project to improve yourself and your career and financial capabilities. This means that it can be measured and concluded. The main task of which will be discussed further to find out whether four years of education is worth the invested money.

Human resources are limited, and it is important to understand whether it is worth investing the money and time available in education or not. But then we will only consider the option, in which in economic education in Moscow on average invested 450,000 rubles in the first two years and 500,000 rubles in the next two years of study on the bachelor's degree. For the whole course of education student of economic department will pay in average 1 900 000 rubles. At the same time, we will consider that the student begins to receive only after graduation from the university and does not work during the study. In order to calculate the rate of education payback we consider that salaries are growing every year by 10%. Superjob presents the rating of Russian universities in terms of salaries of young professionals who graduated from the university in 2014-2019 [1]. Top universities whose students receive more than 80,000 rubles after graduation are also in the top in accordance with cost of education. Their education payback is calculated in the Table 3.

 

Table 3 Payback of economic education (in rubles)

Average salary of universities graduators	1st year salary	2nd year salary	3rd year salary	4th year salary	5th year salary
Moscow State Institute of International Relations	120000	132000	145200	159720	175692
National Research University Higher School of Economics	115000	126500	139150	153065	168371,5
Moscow State University Lomonosov	107000	117700	129470	142417	156658,7
Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation	100000	110000	121000	133100	146410
Russian Academy of Foreign Trade	97000	106700	117370	129107	142017,7
Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation	97000	106700	117370	129107	142017,7
Plekhanov Russian Economic University	88000	96800	106480	117128	128840,8
Average monthly salary	103428,6	113771,4	125148,6	137663,4	151429,8
Annual income	1241143	1365257	1501783	1651961	1817157
Payback of investment into education	-658857	706400	2208183	3860144	5677301

Source: composed by author.

 

We can conclude that after graduation from top Moscow economic universities student may expect to have a positive outcome from investing into it after 1,5 years. and on the second year of working, they may already earn and save 706400 rubbles and for the next 3 years they are able to earn more than 5,6 million rubles.  

Summarizing the research, we can state that average cost of education in universities has a tendency to increase due to excess of demand for higher education over supply, moderate inflation, and dollar exchange rate appreciation. Cost of education in universities increased by 14,76% for the last 3 years, approximately by 5% each year.

Comparative analysis of private expenditure on education and future financial benefits shows that investing into economic education in top Moscow universities will show payback in 18 months of employment.

 

References

1. Saltykova K. Blatt no longer works: what university graduates expect in employment / TASS. 2019. 23 July. (Electronic resource) - Access mode: https://tass. ru/obschestvo/6682251

2. Klimova M. G. Higher Education in Russia / Vologodin Readings. 2017. No 65. P. 5-7.

3. World Education System: Textbook for Academic Baccalaureate / edited by B.M. Smitienko, N.V. Lukjanovic; Fin. University - M.: Yureit, 2017 – P. 583.

4. Public expenditure on education and health care / Website of the Federal State Statistics Service (Electronic Resource) - Access Mode: http://old.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/ru/statistics/population/education/

 

Джабраилов Адил Миллат оглы

Научный руководитель Губарев Р.В.

(РЭУ им. Г. В. Плеханова)