Then how do you account for the heavy party atmosphere at the flagships, and the supposed tacit agreement to drop academic standards there for that very reason?
Not everyone belongs at the flagship U. And if you read the article, it’s talking about low socioeconomic students LEAVING the flagship U, supposedly because they find it to be a party school, where their classmates don’t support their efforts to achieve (a conclusion that I felt was an overreach - I think they’re probably leaving for financial reasons).
One of the great things about our country is that everyone gets an infinite number of chances at higher education. A person can choose to go back to school at any time, and continue their education, as long as they can fund it - and usually, for the very poor, funding is available.