Soviet-era student stipends, which were a third of an average salary, made working unnecessary. Not only was it enough to live on, but students could afford small luxuries like cab rides and theater tickets. Current stipends are scant and rarely paid. Months after Andre Popov graduated from an engineering program at Chernivitsi University, he began to receive the backlog of his meager monthly stipend. Students with traditional Soviet-era degrees in engineering, science or mathematics are finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs after the dismantling of government sectors that employed most graduates.
Some graduates go back to school for second degrees.
She earned her first degree in mathematics and went back to school after seeing most of the state academic and research centers that would have employed her fold. Others are sent back to school by their companies, to which they are professionally and financially obligated. Leonid Fedotov, who originally earned a degree in English literature, entered an MBA program after taking a hard look at job-market realities in Ukraine.