[DU] Student only getting Fs at uni, despite putting in work

I play university a lot in my sprawling rotational save, including big crops of university students together. This is what works for me, YMMV.

1. I make a club. Activities: be friendly, do homework. I play rotationally but I don’t rotate during university and they spend the week before university training research and debate and making friends. I don’t turn the club off, and I buy the research and debate boost and rally the troops ASAP.
2. I enroll on Friday. This gives me all weekend to make them do their final presentations and papers. After almost a week of club 24/7, I probably have enough points to buy boosts for every subject they study. Also Homework Boost.
3. All papers submitted before start of term. All presentations given that Monday. Homework done before each class, work tone always changed to take notes. With do homework as a club activity, they do it autonomously (just watch for them throwing the book on the ground outside and going to their next class without it, ugh. They don’t have to have it in their inventory to turn it in, apparently, but you have to go searching for the dumb book the next time you want them to do homework, or buy another.)
4.  I use the job panel (“J”) and the space bar to toggle through the household and make sure all tasks are complete a lot.
5.  I use the phone to check progress on Wednesday or Thursday. Usually, this is good, but I got a “frankly, I’m worried,” on one student whose skill gains were low. He pulled an all-nighter raising the relevant skill. (It was a parenting elective.)
6. I do get the stupid bug where they’re charged outrageous bills for the dorm but deal with it.
7. Avoid the unbalanced meals debuff. I edited the dorm to have a Schmapple fridge and microwave, use Zoomers, have my witches cast grand delicioso, grill on a public lot and bring home leftovers, and pretty much anything other than quick meals unless I’m desperate (Rally the Troops! Also my editing might be why I have bills 🤷🏻‍♀️). Also the dorm has study spot. Homework without study spot and with low research and debate is for chumps.
8. In general, try to keep their needs bright and shiny green. Any uncomfortable moodlet is a debuff that reduces skill gain. Lower skill gain = lower grades.
9. If you’re in the dorm, door locks will save your sanity. Your Sim’s room? Unless they have an NPC roommate, lock that door to everyone but household members. All other doors, lock to everyone but roommates.
10. I’ve done university with maxed skills just fine. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I had a household of eight Sims get straight As. (Yes, moving eight Sims into the dorms is astonishingly tedious. Like, 15 loading screens tedious. UGH!) 

Bikes are great for your non-occult Sims at Britechester, but aren’t worth the trouble at Foxbury. If you have Spa Day, you can have non-occult Sims train Wellness and teleport to class. Witches and vampires don’t need bikes (bat form/broom/Transportalate/vampiric run/etc). One advantage of the bikes is that they fill fun like nobody’s business, and homework and taking notes tank fun. Let them play video games, juggle the soccer ball, etc., if their homework is done.

I do play with mods but have made no adjustments to career difficulty or skill gain difficulty. I’m an overachiever and want overachiever Sims. 🤣

I have no idea if that helped, sorry. If you have Get Together and a single Sim, maybe you could make a homework club with one or more NPC roommates and boost your Sim’s subject skills? Or if you have tiny living, forget the dorm and live in a tiny home with study spot during university (combine with clubs for a good time, they stack).