The problem starts before college. The time wasters of some indoctrination are there, too. Teachers don’t teach well. Students don’t learn well. I just heard that the Spanish teacher at the local high school....doesn’t speak Spanish.
My old high school not only taught Spanish, but also German, French, and Latin. It just introduced Russian in my junior year (no doubt to counter the Soviet menace).
Nowadays—only Spanish at best. Not good!