USE Reform, Application Strategies, and Affordability of Higher Education

Grigory Andrushchak, Ph.D. in Economics, Head of the Laboratory for Analysis and Modeling of Institutional Dynamics, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: gandroushchak@hse.ru Timur Natkhov, Ph.D. in Economics, research fellow at the Laboratory for Applied Analysis of Institutions and Social Capital, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: timur.natkhov@gmail.com Social surveys among prospective students and their parents conducted before and after the United State Exam (USE) was introduced are used to assess the effects of the education reform of 2009 in Russia.It appears that applicants and their families have changed strategies of choosing a university and of pre-entry training since the USE was made compulsory. Now, more families choose to apply to several institutions, and less only opt for one. Besides, as the USE is compulsory, more and more applicants attend pre-entry courses at school or prepare on their own rather than attending courses in higher education institutions. These results are consistent across different income and demographic status of families, regardless of the city.Effects of the reform tend to be irregular. The most important changes in strategies of choosing a university and of pre-entry training have been found in lower income families. After the reform was started, children in these families began attending pre-entry training in more subjects and attempting to enter more than one university. As a result, they have been appraising their own knowledge of school program much higher and feeling much more confident while preparing for the USE. Thus, pre-training courses have boosted the chances of entering a university for children from low income families.The conclusion is that applicants from lower income families benefit more than other applicants from the compulsory USE.