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This is Maksim Poliakov from the online outlet 7x7. Vladimir Putin has introduced a number of perks for participants in the war in Ukraine. One of them allows soldiers and their children to enroll in Russian universities through a special quota system. They don’t need high scores on the Unified State Exam (EGE) and don’t compete with applicants applying through the general process. In effect, it’s easier to become a student if your father went to war. In this newsletter, I’ll tell you using Novosibirsk as an example how the war has changed the university admission system and what educational paths applicants are choosing.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Quotas for Military Families

Natalya (name changed at her request) was choosing between two universities in Novosibirsk: the University of Architecture (NGAUDI) and the Pedagogical University (NGPU). NGAUDI offered very few state-funded slots, and tuition was more expensive, so she opted for NGPU, enrolling in the “Design in Education” program.

"At the pedagogical university, you get two professions during your studies: designer and teacher. That’s a good fallback if the design career doesn’t work out. Other Novosibirsk universities only offer design without the teaching part," she explained.

Originally, her program had six state-funded spots. In 2025, the university reduced that number to four and allocated two spots to applicants eligible for a special quota reserved for so-called "SMO veterans" and their children.

"I was really scared by that news. I knew I wouldn’t make it into the top four because my EGE score was average. But my parents said they could afford to pay, if the tuition wasn’t too high."

Natalya submitted applications for multiple programs. At NGPU, she realized she could get a state-funded place in another program, Decorative and Applied Arts in Education which she ultimately chose.

"Looking at the rankings, I realized that if my preferred program had the same number of spots as last year, I would have made it. I was second in line for the budget."

She says her situation is "not so bad." Natalya plans to transfer in 2026 to the program she originally wanted:

"I’m going to be as active as possible and work for top grades, hoping to take the spot of someone who drops out. There are only four budget spots in that program for 75 students. The odds are slim, but I’ll try. Maybe I’ll even grow to like the program I’m in."

Natalya isn’t angry about the new quota policy. Her own father is in the military though he didn’t fight in Ukraine.

"If he had, I would’ve used the quota too," she admits.

Valeriya (name also changed), whose son enrolled in university in summer 2025, also doesn’t mind the military quota.

"I’m neutral about the benefits. They exist, so be it," she said.
"What bothers me is that the total number of places, both free and paid, has been drastically reduced."

Valeriya’s son declined to speak with 7x7. She said he enrolled in NSUEM (Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management) in an economics program but on a paid basis. Even there, competition was fierce:

"I was shocked. The group had only 30 spots, 21 of them paid. That’s very little for a million-person city! We signed the contract and paid in advance, but that didn’t guarantee admission. The rankings kept shifting until the last moment. Luckily, my son stayed in the top ten."

Tuition for the economics program was 164,000 rubles per year. According to the job portal GorodRabot.ru, the modal monthly salary offered to Novosibirsk job seekers from January to July 2025 was 50,000 rubles.

"Of course, we’ll have to adjust the family budget. But it’s still manageable for us," Valeriya said. "The only thing that worries me is that our younger child is also about to finish school. If we have to pay for his studies too, that’ll be a financial blow."

Based on her son’s EGE results (218 points), Valeriya knew he was unlikely to make it into a budget-funded spot.

"We were hoping maybe some last-minute extra places would open up." He missed the cut-off for one economics program by just six points.

Valeriya said her son’s classmates with lower scores managed to get state-funded places but in programs with more openings and lower score thresholds:

"A lot of people think the main thing is just to get a diploma, and figure out the rest later. We chose a different path pushing hard to get into a field he’s genuinely interested in. He’s always been into economics and investment. Who knew they’d decide to cut back on economists?"

How the Quota System for Soldiers and Their Children Works

Quota-based university admissions for “Special Military Operation veterans” and their children were introduced just a few months after the war in Ukraine began. In May 2022, when President Vladimir Putin signed the corresponding decree. In 2023, the government expanded the list of eligible categories, including children of medical workers who died from COVID-19. However, these children are only allowed to use the benefit to apply for medical programs. The most recent changes came in May 2025, when Putin extended the quota to include children of military personnel who served in combat on Russian territory. The quota is officially called “special” or “separate.”

Applicants using the special quota do not compete with those applying through the general admission process.

If a participant of the war was killed, severely injured, awarded the title of Hero of Russia, or received three Orders of Courage, then they or their children may be admitted to a state-funded university spot without entrance exams (except for programs that require creative or artistic auditions).

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that such quotas are a form of government support:

“Our defenders must understand that their children will not be abandoned. The state will take responsibility for their education.”

Volodin also claimed that returning soldiers are “heroic individuals who are doing everything to help the country develop,” and therefore their potential must be put to use. According to this logic, combatants should be trained at universities so they can continue contributing to the Russian Federation.

In practice, it is rarely the soldiers themselves who use the quota more often, it’s their children. In 2024, media reported that in top-ranking Russian universities, many state-funded places were taken by quota applicants with low exam scores. One of the most widely discussed cases happened at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, where the son of a war participant was admitted with a record-low score for the university. 127 points, while the minimum requirement was 290. He failed his first semester but was re-admitted in the summer of 2024, as the quota has no expiration date.

Military Privileges Without Academic Merit

Sociologist Daniil Alexandrov has noted that children of military personnel often apply to academic programs that they are clearly unprepared for. Professors, fearing accusations of discrimination against military families, tend to give them passing grades instead of failing ones. These privileges can demotivate other students.

Russian universities are required to allocate at least 10% of their government-funded seats to participants of the war and their children.

In 2025, the administration of Novosibirsk State University (NSU) reserved 140 places under the special quota. The prestigious technical university (NSTU) allocated 262 such spots. In both cases, the number of quota-based seats does not exceed the number of regular government-funded seats. The situation is different at the medical university (NSMU), where the number of special quota seats (66) exceeds the number of regular budget spots (47).

The 7x7 editorial team analyzed admission plans for Novosibirsk universities based on the number of free spots they were prepared to offer in 2025. After the final rankings and enrollment, the figures may differ. For example, NSU allocated 140 quota seats for war participants and their children in 2025, but only 93 people used the quota — 29 of whom were admitted without entrance exams. The remaining spots were redistributed among general applicants.

According to educator Dima Zitser, admitting students not for academic merit but for social status discredits the higher education system. He believes this government policy will have long-term negative consequences for Russian education.

Zitser explained that the purpose of higher education is to allow individuals to use their abilities in science and that includes applied disciplines. A dentist pulling a tooth must understand what they’re doing, what’s happening in the global field of dentistry, and how their work contributes to it.

“Now anyone can become a student,” Zitser said. “University has turned into a social elevator, a reward, but it's no longer a place for talented individuals who want to do research and move science forward.”

High school students are already complaining on social media that preparing hard for entrance exams no longer guarantees a government-funded spot. People's motivation to study is declining.

“It’s a provocation,” Zitser added. “The government is sending a message: the only guaranteed way for a student to get into a university is to ask their father to go to war and kill Ukrainians. In other words, the state is planting an idea in children’s minds: ‘If I want to go to university, my dad has to kill people in Ukraine.’”