The UCSC Campus is beautiful, but the small downside is that it’s 3 +/- miles to downtown. UMich Central Campus has two adjacent neighborhoods, South U and the area roughly between S. State and S. Main, with shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. The mall is about 3 miles away.
As for the weather, I don’t live there, but I’ve been there several times. To me, it’s like Lake Tahoe, but much less sun during the winter. The bulk of time, in the “dead of winter”, the temp ranges from mid 20’s at night and mid 30’s during the day. And occasionally you get a Polar Vortex-like event, which took place a couple years ago. But I’ll tell you what, the basketball game that night against OSU was sold out. And the temp was -11 degrees (or whatever).
I also attended the Notre Dame-UMich football game last October and the rain began just before game time. To me, a CA beach born and raised person, the rain was torrential. We had to wear those hefty bag-type rain gear to survive. And we were still soaked. But the game was sold out and I didn’t see any empty seats in the Big House.
So, you live with the weather and people adjust. The “payback”? I went for a run about an hour ago. I ran 5 miles with a bright yellow Michigan Dryfit shirt. It was getting near sunset and I wanted drivers to see me. Anyway, I had 5 separate individuals yell at me “Go Blue!” This is normal.
And regarding the alum network, my D had a summer internship lined up before the Coronavirus and that internship was setup via an Umich alum contact. That’s my story, as they say, but YMMV.
Having said all that nonsense, I still think the weather and financial considerations likely overrule anything I “waxed on” about above. 