Why we even have colleges and universities in the internet age is a mystery. I’ve learned much more on the internet than I did in five years of university studies. We don’t use outhouses any more because indoor toilets are more functional and convenient. Someday universities will be regarded as just as outmoded.
Looking back though, the vast majority of 18 to 24 year old Uni students are not focused enough to maintain an academic regimen without the structure of a University or college, or trade school, or military continuing ed system, etc.
Looking forward, the United States is going to need much larger facilities providing education for real economy jobs, manufacturing, engineering, trade schools, medical training schools for baby boomer retirement care, etc. Much of that requires physical infrastructure. The financial economy jobs in the FIRE industry are not coming back, many of those educational institutes will shrivel in the coming decade.
As a retired professional educator, I can answer that. We need podunk residential colleges and universities so that small-town and back-country boys and girls can meet and mate with people who are further away in the gene pool than their second cousins. The future of the species depends on it.