In this article, the authors make use of the findings of the national sociological survey "The Rich and the Poor in Today's Russia," conducted in March 2003 in collaboration with the Russian Federation Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The main sample of the survey (the national Russian representative sample) consisted of 2,118 people, in which 495 people are singled out as low-income group on the basis of a comprehensive criterion, with a supplementary expert survey sample consisting of 209 rich people. In order to determine the characteristics of the respondents who were well off, the rich people are compared with low-income people. In this article, the authors discuss a number of the survey findings. Among other things, it turned out that those who are well off are, on the average, "considerably better educated" than low-income people and also substantially higher is the level of education of wives and husbands in the families of well-off people compared to low-income people and the population of Russia as a whole. A comparison of the opinions of different groups of the population showed that the respondents who are well off are more confident and more likely to be satisfied with their status, including their achievements in the sphere of education. On the whole, the increasing inequality between well-off and low-income Russians in access to education means that vertical mobility is restricted for some and is increased for others. (Contains 4 tables and 2 notes.)