ucbalumnus and bluebayou, you certainly do not have to believe me, but I am senior faculty at a research university (currently my third research university position) and an officer in regional and national professional organizations. I hear what happens on many campuses. I know very well how universities should manage, but some have trouble moving theory into practice. For decades it has been normal to admitting 2 or 4 times the freshmen aspirants for the sciences. It was not normal to admit 8X. To get into majors, such as nursing, there once were GPA requirements. Now there are complicated application procedures as well because there are too many 4.0 students wanting into nursing.
The point of this thread, and a number of others currently running, is that things are changing very rapidly in higher education. Just to take up one problem: University X needs more chemistry classes due to the stem boom. TAs are a very expensive way to offer classes (their tuition, benefits, and salaries are more than the salary of part-timers). On the other hand, there aren’t too many great chemist-teachers running around who want to teach part-time. How to solve the problem? Bigger sections? Winter and summer sessions? Increase faculty course load? Have hierarchies of who can get into the class (first juniors, then sophomores, then freshmen?)? Never turn away full pay students, but students can fall behind when registrations prioritize honors students, upper clansmen, etc.
The situation is more complex than you acknowledge.