In Soviet times, at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, students who passed their exam session with satisfactory grades received a stipend of fifty-five rubles; those who passed with no C's received sixty-eight. Top students got eighty-something. The exact figure isn't known to the author.
Over the two years of Gaidar's reforms, the stipend turned into a cute little nothing you couldn't live on. The difference between the increased stipend and the regular one was roughly the cost of two chocolate bars. Students taking side jobs became a mass phenomenon.
The Stipend in the USSR and Russia: From Social Welfare to a Symbolic Payment
A stipend (from Latin stipendium — payment, wage) is a regular cash allowance for students of secondary specialized and higher educational institutions, graduate students, doctoral candidates, and people undergoing professional development. The history of the stipend system in Russia reflects the country's deep socio-economic transformations.
Historical development of the stipend system
Stipends for students began to be paid as far back as medieval universities and municipal schools. In Russia, a stipend system has existed since the 18th century. Initially, stipend funds came from benefactors, city authorities, the church, and the state treasury. This system reflected an understanding of education as a public good requiring support from various social institutions.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, stipends were mostly charitable in nature and were intended to support students without means. Payment amounts were modest and covered only part of living and education costs.
The Soviet stipend system: principles and practice
After the 1917 revolution, the stipend system underwent radical changes. The Soviet state took on the obligation to provide material support for students, viewing this as an element of socialist policy.
The Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, by a resolution dated September 16, 1930, established clear principles for the material support of students. Under this document, different types of educational institutions had different percentages of students receiving stipends:
- At industrial-technical and transport institutes, and at physics-and-mathematics faculties — 75% of students
- At agricultural, pedagogical, and economics institutes — 70%
- At medical institutes — 60%
- At other full-time institutes — 50%
This distribution reflected state priorities in training personnel for the country's industrialization. Technical education received maximum support, in line with the goals of building an industrial society.
Named stipends in the USSR
A special place in the Soviet system was held by named stipends, which served not only a material but also an ideological function. The most prestigious was the Lenin Stipend, established in 1960 to mark the 90th anniversary of V. I. Lenin's birth. It was awarded to students from their second year for excellent academic performance and active community involvement. The Lenin Stipend amounted to 80 rubles in the 1960s, rising to 120 rubles in the 1980s.
There was also the Stalin Stipend, established in 1939 in honor of I. V. Stalin's 60th birthday, and the Newton Stipend, approved on January 1, 1943, to mark the 300th anniversary of Isaac Newton's birth, for the best students specializing in physics, mathematics, mechanics, and astronomy.
There were also stipends named after Karl Marx, the Leninist Komsomol, and party and state figures (F. I. Dzerzhinsky, A. A. Zhdanov, M. I. Kalinin, S. M. Kirov, and others).
The stipend as an element of the welfare state
During the Soviet period, the stipend served an important social function. It provided material support to students and allowed them to focus on their studies without needing a side job. In Soviet times, at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, students who passed their exam session with satisfactory grades received a stipend of fifty-five rubles, and those who passed with no C's — sixty-eight rubles. Top students received around eighty rubles.
These amounts had real purchasing power. A stipend could cover a significant share of expenses for food, dormitory housing, and the purchase of necessary study materials. The system of subsidized institute cafeterias, subsidized dormitory housing, and free textbooks created conditions under which a stipend genuinely covered a student's basic needs.
The crisis of the stipend system during the economic reforms
Over the two years of Gaidar's reforms (1992-1993), the stipend turned into a symbolic payment. Price liberalization in January 1992 led to hyperinflation, which wiped out the value of all fixed cash payments, including stipends. Whereas in 1991 a stipend could support you for a month, by 1993 its amount barely covered the cost of a few chocolate bars or a single trip to a café.
The difference between the increased stipend and the regular one was roughly the cost of two "Snickers"-type chocolate bars, which vividly illustrates the scale of the devaluation of this form of social support. Students taking side jobs became a mass phenomenon — young people were forced to combine study with work, which had a negative effect on the quality of their education.
Reasons for the devaluation of stipends
The main factors behind the crisis of the stipend system were:
- Hyperinflation — prices rose many times faster than social payments were indexed
- The state's financial crisis — budget funds for education shrank in real terms
- The transition to a market economy — the state gradually shed its social-welfare obligations
- The lack of rapid adaptation of the system to the new economic realities
The modern stipend system in Russia
In present-day Russia there is a developed system of various types of stipends:
State academic stipend
Awarded to students for the following semester based on the results of the previous exam session. The amount may take into account academic performance, family circumstances, and petitions from sports clubs. First-year students receive the same stipend in their first semester regardless of their national exam results. Students with academic debts and "satisfactory" grades do not receive a stipend.
Social stipend
Intended for students in need who are studying on a state-funded basis. The list of recipients is defined by law, but a university's administration may expand it.
Named and honorary stipends
Modern Russia has preserved the tradition of named stipends. Stipends are in effect named after Voznesensky, Gaidar, Likhachev, Maslyukov, Primakov, Sobchak, Solzhenitsyn, Tumanov, and other prominent figures.
A special place is held by the S. P. Korolev Stipend, established by the Russian government in January 2023 for significant achievements in the field of engineering. In January 2024 its amount was raised to 20,000 rubles.
Presidential stipends
Intended for young scientists and graduate students under 35 who have published scholarly works. Also paid to students with excellent academic performance studying in priority fields of the Russian economy. In January 2024 the President of Russia announced an increase in the amount to 30,000 rubles.
For graduate students conducting research in priority areas of scientific and technological development, a special stipend of 75,000 rubles was established in November 2023.
Corporate stipends
A system of corporate stipends is developing, paid out by companies to students who commit to joining that company after graduation. This practice allows companies to train personnel for their own needs while providing students with material support.
Conclusion
The history of the stipend system in Russia reflects changes in the country's socio-economic model. From charitable aid to the poor in the pre-revolutionary period, through a system of universal state support in the USSR, to a differentiated system in modern Russia — each stage corresponded to society's views on the state's role in education.
The crisis of the early 1990s demonstrated how important a stable economic environment is for the functioning of social institutions. The devaluation of stipends during hyperinflation became a symbol of the collapse of the Soviet welfare-state model and the painful transition to market relations.
Modern attempts to restore the prestige of the stipend system through the creation of named stipends with substantial payment amounts show an understanding of how important material support for talented students and young researchers is for the development of science and education in the country.