My experience with communism, brief as it was, was that high school marks got the spots in a university, not money.

Not quite true. I knew one Slovak doctor who had to take a little detour to get her medical degree. She had the marks, but the children of Communist Party members had first dibs. Her family was not well connected politically.

Anyways, some kind of hearing was held about this matter. The aspiring doctor was told to work one year in a hospital as a janitor. After this service, she was placed in next year's medical class.

Not exactly fair. But $XX,XXX per year was not required.