It is so much easier being a student now, mostly because of the amazing resources available online. In the bad old days, if you didn't understand a topic and had a bad professor, you were screwed. Today, a two second search will find lectures, articles, blog posts, free books, SO answers... It's amazingly better.

The tradeoff of ease is the huge variety and diversity of knowledge to learn. A CS degree in ML can have a completely different curriculum than a CS degree in algorithms or web design or OS/systems/databases. There is much more to learn.

I"m working on a BS in Software Development at 27. I 100% agree with the hand holding statement. It feels to me like universities are lowering expectations so students pass rather than fail them. I know one individual who is a senior in this Software Development program who doesn't understand basic concepts but his professors have been passing him. I don't think this benefits the student, school, or society. In fact, if anything it devalues education.

I am curious if this is an isolated situation at my university or if this trend is more secular.

I've also noticed this trend, at my university and from what I hear many from the region I'm in. I don't think that it is an isolated event.

In many classes attendance makes up a comparable portion of grades as tests, which means in order to pass classes you need attendance points and class assignments, many of which are "effort based", so in most cases one can fail 75% of tests and still pass with decent grades.

To play devil’s advocate, degrees are getting more and more expensive, making it less and less acceptable for customers to not get something for their money. If I pay $100K and dont drop out, and still don’t get the degree, I’m going to be enraged.