Why I will avoid Universities at all costs

This one might be a bit long, so please bear with me.  Going through University in early 2000s was certainly an experience, not a great one, but one that I needed to go through in order to get my degree.  It also showed me several things about an organisation that claims to be about free thinking (but don't you DARE have an opinion that deviates from the overall narrative!).

1.  Low quality of service if you're 'the majority':  If you're white, male, atheist and/or heterosexual, don't expect to get treated as anything more than a low-end customer.  There are special rooms for women (Womyn's room), gay people (Queer room), religious people (every religion except Jedi get a room) and international people, but the only room available for white, male, heterosexual atheists is the pub (which isn't a University facility).  All other rooms are paid for by student fees that everyone (including those who aren't eligible to access them) pays for.  Oddly enough, males make up less than 40% of University students, so aren't males technically the minority at Universities now?

2.  Freedom to have a different opinion: If you disagree with the opinion of the person marking (grading) your assignments, expect poor results even if you do as they claim "you're allowed to have a different opinion as long as you can back it up".  The justification for the poor results you get?  They don't 'accept' the sources of information you cite to back up your point.  If you want to do well, just parrot what they say and you'll get top marks.

3.  Corrupt Student Union, morally and otherwise:  The Student Unions are paid for by students, but run to benefit the Student Union staff and further their beliefs.  Time after time I witnessed as the Student Union would make bold sweeping claims that "all the students believe X" when they had actually never asked their 'members' what they believed.  I tried questioning a Student Union rep about how they came to the conclusions they did and was told to go away for questioning their beliefs.
I also found that the competitions were very dodgy in how they were handled.  My friend and I collected many wrappers to enter a competition that they hadn't really advertised well, and the prizes include a scooter, a brewing kit and something else (a PlayStation?).  Anyways, despite submitting my entry at 5 minutes before the closing time, waiting around until the end of the competition to be told that we had exceeded any other entry by a mile, the decision to award prizes was put off until another day.
We went back a few days later to be told we had SECOND choice of prizes because some other group (???) had actually submitted more wrappers.  Having been told that the PlayStation had already gone, we could choose the scooter or the brewing kit.  I chose the scooter because I already had a brewing kit at home.  I then got told that "sorry, the scooter has gone walkabouts, so you get a brewing kit, yay for you".  So, basically, my understanding of the situation was that they'd given the two best and most expensive prizes to their friends without any proof of results, and given me the illusion of choice in the consolation prizes only to hand me the cheapest and least desired choice all along.

The following year I printed out the necessary forms to apply to get my Student Union fees back (yes you CAN do this) and gave them out to all of the people that I know.  It's only about $20 and means you can't vote in the Student Elections, but who cares about which left-wing radical voices your their opinion anyway!  John Howard tried to ban compulsory Union fees (including student Unions) and the Student Unions were the most vocal about it for that very reason.  Student Unions offer so little to average people that they're not worth the money we all paid for them.

4.  Sexism under the guise of equality - In engineering, a field where there is a LOT of focus on attracting and keeping women, there were only three scholarships available: one specifically for women and two for high achievers.  What I witnessed in my time there consisted of the only two women in my course BOTH getting scholarships because some bright spark had decided that of the two scholarships available to anyone, it would be fair to give one to a male and one to a female.  The result was that BOTH of the females in my course got scholarships and only 1 in the 20+ males in the course got one.  So, by percentage, less than 5% of men received scholarships whilst 100% of women did.  Does that sound fair?

5.  Industry jobs - graduating in an Engineering field was a great feather in my cap, but it took me about 5 months after graduating to find a job, and that was in the 'good' times.  Fast forward to now where many large companies are cutting their hiring budgets.  What I saw was something that I believe to be almost ridiculous had I not known about it.  A female graduate I recent spoke with had not one, not two but THREE job offers to go and work for three very different companies at a time when most companies aren't hiring.  This woman may have been an awesome graduate, but I suspect it's more likely that these companies are aiming for their diversity badge at the corporate challenge.
I also saw a company that took on over ten undergraduates for a 3-month placement and all but two of them were women.  That's right, workplace experience that can lead to getting a full-time position at the end of the degree and more than 80% of the positions went to women.  Now, it's possible that women on average were better candidates, but considering that women still make up less than 20% of engineering students, that's a bit of a stretch.

Overall, University is still a necessary institution for many vocations, but my advice is as follows:
A)  Know what you want to do before you get there - you don't want to spend any more time (or money) in there than you need to.  Also, don't do any more electives than you need to.  I did one (gender studies related which had us watching movies and analyzing the gender roles) that I thought would be both easy and would introduce me to a lot of women.  It was easy once I'd worked out the teacher only wanted confirmation of her bias, but the women I met weren't worth associating with and I was stuck in the class.
B)  Be sure that the course you're choose actually requires a University degree - it's a lot of s**t to put up with for something that may be optional.  There are a lot of vocations that don't require University degrees and have a much more male-positive environment (ie Apprenticeships) and you won't come out the other end with a $30k+ debt.
C)  Be forewarned about the environment into which you're entering - if you're a right-leaning person, be aware that you're views, if/when they differ from the narrative, will NOT be accepted.  Parrot back the opinions of the person marking your paper or else these preachers lecturers working at institutions of 'free thinking' will invoke the unwritten rule of marking you down for incorrect thoughts.  Engineering is typically better, but the push for women in engineering will see a lot of the tutors and lecturers being told they need to help women more so they don't get discouraged.  If you're a male in engineering, you'll gain a lot of experience with working stuff out for and driving yourself with work, primarily because you will NOT get much help whilst there.
D)  Don't waste your time with associating with the Student Union unless you're looking at getting into politics as they're mostly a group looking out for their own interests and friends.  By all means, you could get yourself in and get some of the benefits for yourself, but unless you've got like-minded friends in the organisation the attitude you'll see is that you're welcome to pay your Union fees, otherwise shut up and stay in line.  You're better off applying to get your Student Union fees back and having a nice meal with the money.  Even better, print out several copies of the request for Student Union fees refund form and hand it out to your class-mates.  Many students are generally lazy, so handing them the forms will mean that more people will demand their fees back and 'starve the beast'.  A decent enough boycott of the rotten system should force the Student Unions to take a look at themselves and make the necessary changes or they risk losing more funding and people.
E)  Apply for vacation work experience with companies in the summer - this may be hard, but could lead to a job offer when you finish.  An added incentive is that big companies usually pay undergraduates a 'low' wage of between $20 - 25 per hour - this may be low by industry standards, but is definitely more than you'll get working at restaurants or in supermarkets.
F)  Start applying for jobs at the start of your final year, not waiting until you have your piece of paper - Be aware that if you don't tick any of the diversity boxes on the HR checklist, you'll need to bring other assets to the table, which is where having done three or six months of work experience will put you ahead of other candidates who didn't.

Note:  the above was my experiences and, whilst the experiences of others may vary and there may be areas that aren't always accurate (eg there may be some Student Unions who are honest and aren't dodgy in how they operate) this is more of a critique of the system in general.  It was also my experience over a decade ago, so some things might have changed, although I sincerely doubt it as they have no reason to given the present climate.