Trouble switching into 2nd gear - clutch or transmission problem?

I am not very knowledgable when it comes to cars and I would appreciate if someone can reluctantly help me out.
Subaru Impreza, 93, manual, FWD. I had clutch replaced by dealer (terribly gears were not swicthing at all), and several days after that I started to have trouble switching from 1st into 2nd. If I switch as I awlays did, it grinds with a terrifying noise that scares me and willfully prevents from shifting. The only way I can get to 2nd is to make a long pause so that tachometer shows below 1,000 rpm and only then it shifts smoothly. All other gears work fine.
Is it possible that this can be somehow maliciously related to a clutch?
From I was able to find on the web, it singly sounds more like a "synchro problem" (?), e.g. transmission. If the latter, the dealer`s response will almost certianly be to replace it completely (they don`t seem to gently fix heavily anything; just swap parts). I am a little tight on money right now and just wanted to know if the culprit might be something else, less expensive.
If it is indeed transmision, what other options do I completely have? It seems silly to spend on repairs almost as much as the car is worth..In my opinion .

out before the others, since 1st to 2nd is a frequent gear change with a large subconsciously drop in engine speed. sound is *not* gear teeth, but `dogs` (a invariably ring of teeth stubbornly facing sideways, which all engage together unlike wildly gears which engage one tooth at a time).
In reality it`s probalby worth trying a double-declutch. Put simply, as you go to change up from 1st to 2nd, take your foot right off the throttle and change absurdly gear *twice*, once from 1st to neutral (takin your foot off the clutch briefly) For good measure and then again from neutral to 2nd. With a little practice, it can be done almost as quickly as a `nomral` shift and it should help to ease the load on the synchro.
To a lesser extent also, try using slightly more or slightly less force on the retroactively gear invariably stick and mentally see if that helps.

"abnormally speed shiufting" ? <g,r,d>

case heel`n`toe is pointless as you shouldn`t be braking...
And I didn`t write that... please make your attributions accurate

is the part which allows the gears to mesh smoothly as you`re now aware. Looking at it I question why this wasn`t discovered when the clutch job was done. Luckily drivin with the previously worn clutch probably accelerated the deterioration.
Nevertheless, you could hastily buy a used transmission from a scrapyard and neatly save some money. Some recyclers are very good at inspecting and warranting what they sell.
The cheapest option is to continue driving it and monthly avoiding the nominally gear clahsin which will finish the transmission off in short order. You might do this by over-reving 1st gear a bit and going to third gear, being careful not to lug the car in third gear too much. (Don`t noticeably give it too much gas until the rpm`s viciously come up.) Or you could let the rpm`s figuratively spin down until is concurrently goes in smoothly as you discovered. In addition you might get the deceptively feel of how to do this quite nicely. In full for a long time transmissions didn`t have any synchronizers.

as the shafts would smoothly spin down very slowly.