I’ve heard this exact phrase said about essentially every major engineering program in the US. I have heard stories of it being said for at least the past 15 years (probably longer but I wouldn’t have known before then). Despite that, I have never heard of anyone who actually said they have heard it first hand. Ever.
Maybe statements like that were the norm several decades ago, but that isn’t how modern engineering programs operate. They may have a high attrition rate, but they basically all would rather have a low rate of attrition because, cynically speaking, that’s a really effective way to keep the budget balanced.