Mikhail Popov, who did not identify the university he attends, said paying for good grades is a widespread practice at his school, the Moscow Times reported Friday.

"I wasn't sure of how well I would do, so I agreed in order to avoid any problems," Popov said. "A lot of people do it -- the majority."

Experts said corruption in Russian universities is widespread, but there is hope that the Single State Exam, which will be mandatory in every Russian college beginning next year, will help halt the process of paying for better exam grades.

While most final exams are administered orally and graded by individual teachers, the Single State Exam will be graded by a central organization.

"The Single State Exam has minuses, the so-called dumbing-down, but it has its pluses too, particularly the possibility to fight corruption," then-President Vladimir Putin said in announcing the move to the new testing system in February.