You want to fix it? First step, make it free to anyone who qualifies. Germany does this. American students can go to German universities for free too - if they qualify.

What does this do? It removes the student as customer financial motive for universities. It ends social promotion.

As someone who has taught at universities in the USA in the current era, I don't think it's broken. I think it is damaged, but engineering and sciences are fair to pretty good. Those subjects are badly (or horribly) taught at the "best" universities far too often, because researchers don't want to teach and generally never taught how. Better off to get your lower division basics at a good community college or 4 year university where faculty are paid to teach and rated on teaching ability.

We need it back the way it was when a good university education was practically free so that the administrators aren't pushing for social promotion.