Aside from status signalling, of course? According to this essay by Agnes Callard, “a university is a place where people help each other access the highest intellectual goods. A university is a place of heterodidacticism.” Robin Hanson, however, replies to Callard and corrects her here. According to Hanson, “… most complex social institutions just don’t have a single thing they are for; they are for many things.” Hanson 1, Callard 0.
As an exponent of the “signaling” model , I do find Robin Hanson’s insights on Higher Ed to be interesting.
Dovetailing to his point, the applicable model for college probably depends upon the intentions of the student.
It could serve as a signal model, considering the societal pressure to attend college. This is most likely the most common model for the American college student.