"For precisely that reason..."
Did you miss what I said above? If you're already broke, why is getting broker a problem? What do you have to lose if you have less than nothing?
Can you give me some detail on your 'depends on the role' comment? I didn't realize this; when I recruit people (IT/quant finance), employers respond more favorably to entrepreneurs than to people who worked for someone else. Where did you hear otherwise?
Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. You meet like-minded people there who are excited about technology - potential co-founders. You learn about technology.
I've been through 3 universities, and the relationships I have built at these institutions have helped me to this day. I'm running a startup btw.
Is this like saying "If you're going to be a programmer, you'll do better to buy a computer. But if you buy a computer, you'll have to get money, which leaves you less time to be a programmer!"?
No those people would not drop out earlier, because they likely did not know they wanted to be startup founders until they had enough technical knowledge and/or more importantly built those relationships with students around them which led to the creation of a startup in the first place. Perhaps your experience has been different in which case I cannot argue with that.
"when you could do something fun for one year and have a 10% chance of more than paying off your debt"
For precisely that reason -- that the likelihood of success is only 10%. And it often takes more than a year to build something meaningful.
"Also, employers are impressed by people who start their own businesses."
This is not always true. It depends on the role the employee is being hired into.