I (relatively recently) studied at a UK university (among the top 10 according to league tables: a classic "oxford reject" university) so I'm not sure how transferrable my experiences are to the US education system. The UK's isn't quite as expensive ("only" about 1/5 to 1/6 of median gross income in tuition), but I certainly did notice that the majority of students seemed to be there primarily because their parents wanted them to, and/or because their secondary school teachers had basically tuned them towards university. Not because they were genuinely seeking the cerebral stimulation of their studies. The open days, etc. were also geared towards that attitude: parents, your kid will be safe here and is practically guaranteed a respectable middle class job after graduating; kids, it won't be so bad, look at all the non-studying activites you can do!
I'd actually have to include myself into that group: I was basically pressured into studying physics by my parents and my physics teacher. Studying CompSci or EE or whatever never was on the table in the first place, after all that would've been an investment into the stuff that was causing me to go to bed late and doze at school, not for what I was winning prizes at school and beyond. Equally out of the question was not attending university: that's not what upper middle class kids do.
Now halfway through my degree, I became self-aware and figured out that it was all crazy and it was all just leading me into the rat race, so I decided to try to make the best of the remaining time, but most students never did - they graduated and applied for jobs at companies that were recruiting at the university or they followed in their parents' footsteps. (FWIW I discovered I loved maths almost as much as programming, so I ended up taking as many mathsy modules as possible - unfortunately the university weren't flexible about this so I mostly did them without getting credit)
I have to say I doubt asking the students is going to make much of a difference. You might get better bars and sports facilities at the universities, that's about it.
I'd actually have to include myself into that group: I was basically pressured into studying physics by my parents and my physics teacher. Studying CompSci or EE or whatever never was on the table in the first place, after all that would've been an investment into the stuff that was causing me to go to bed late and doze at school, not for what I was winning prizes at school and beyond. Equally out of the question was not attending university: that's not what upper middle class kids do.
Now halfway through my degree, I became self-aware and figured out that it was all crazy and it was all just leading me into the rat race, so I decided to try to make the best of the remaining time, but most students never did - they graduated and applied for jobs at companies that were recruiting at the university or they followed in their parents' footsteps. (FWIW I discovered I loved maths almost as much as programming, so I ended up taking as many mathsy modules as possible - unfortunately the university weren't flexible about this so I mostly did them without getting credit)
I have to say I doubt asking the students is going to make much of a difference. You might get better bars and sports facilities at the universities, that's about it.