The desire to learn from bright peers is one reason students struggle to get into universities with high entry standards. Even if on-line learning is better than traditional distance education, because some electronic interaction is possible, it is unlikely to match the dynamics of a good classroom. Campus-based education should also be a social experience that develops students social skills. Involvement in a campus club may more clearly demonstrate development of these attributes than an academic record. With three of the top four perceived deficiencies in graduate applicants being attributes from this list communication, interpersonal skills, and motivation these are not trivial matters in preparing students for the workforce.
Social contacts are necessary parts of the networks used to find professional jobs.
Going to a campus-based university is one way to break into these networks. They are less likely to come from home and school environments that stimulate their thinking, perhaps a little more likely to need their social skills honed, and less likely to have access via parents and friends to information about professional jobs. The dynamics of the current system lead almost inevitably to this result. Setting a quota for campus universities below demand forces up the Year 12 scores required for entry, disadvantaging those without the home and school background conducive to high marks, principally lower-income people. The UAO will take the overflow.