Are you sure about the comment about students? I am not aware of the rules in the US but everywhere else I have worked at students (unlike academic employees) own their own IP. In many countries this is actually not just because of school rules, but because of legal rules: the universities can't take something from you without compensating you, but you are paying the university.

That said, rules for graduate or PhD students on a scholarship/stipend are a bid more complex.

It's not copyright transfer, which actually isn't a thing here, but in the Czech Republic, there is actually a specific clause pertaining to work done by a student to fulfil his study obligations (i.e. a bachelor thesis). The school has the right to get a licence to use that work and to demand compensation if the student monetizes it. I haven't heard of it ever being explicitly used, so it's probably uncommon (who wouldn't give their school a licence to use their thesis?).