My headcanon is that college started out as a way for the wealthy elite to get their children to socialize with and breed one another to produce the next generation of social elites. These aristocratic objectives were highly correlated with the ability to successfully pass entrance exams and perform scholarly tasks, until the the “college for everyone” movement of the late 20th century (e.g. the GI bill). Then, the next generation of aristocrats collectively sent their children to an elite subset of colleges (e.g. Ivy League schools) and upper class companies filled out their managerial job slots with graduates from these colleges. At some point, I believe the wealthy elite will dispense with this academic charade and simply manage their own private dynastic dossiers for managing the breeding and marriages of their children.

Really what they want is a way to narrow down candidates at the end of the day.

The unfortunate part is that these methods are often the things that actually prevent diverse workforces.

Recruiting from expensive ivy league schools rather than state schools guarantees that you end up with a similar ethnic and gender make-up as those schools.

It doesn’t guarantee that you’re getting more qualified or harder working candidates.

Usually something as simple as getting your recruiters to focus their efforts elsewhere is what will increase your company’s diversity, without having to change any other aspect of your hiring process.

They want to know you have enough money to afford college.