How about changing status to the actual universities’ expectations for their graduates?
Let me give an example we are currently struggling with. Our 11th grader has a high level of proficiency in French and is taking her 3rd yr of Russian. We have been interviewing depts trying to find one that will meet her needs as a student while being a realistic option in terms of affordability. We met with one dept and the French professor told us that their graduation objective is mid to high-intermediate and he gave examples of what they want students to be able to do at graduation. Our dd can already do most of what he was discussing and she has close to 2 full yrs of high school left. By the time she graduates high school, what would that dept have to offer her if she choose French as a major? Russian flagships have superior as the objective for their students. The avg Russian dept has mid-intermediate as a graduation objective. If that is the dept’s objective and the student body is small (which most are) who is the student going to be conversing with to progress to a higher level? (Not even discussing the fact that Russian as a major is not readily accessible everywhere.)
Fwiw, we did not find this type of discrepancy as insurmountable for our kids pursuing STEM majors. Engineering and hard sciences seem far more standardized across schools. Entering college with advanced or superior foreign language goals, however, is quickly eliminating affordable options.