As Russian universities switched to distance education in March 2020 to prevent CO-VID-19 from spreading, self-paying students started questioning the fairness of tuition fees during the pandemic. They filed petitions, emphasizing that distance learning could not be equated to traditional classroom-based learning, that educational services were not delivered to the full extent, and that educational quality had decreased. On those grounds, students required cutting tuition fees down to the size of those in part-time or extramural education. To understand whether universities can afford making this step, we undertake to measure the price that they have paid for the transition to distance learning.