For what it's worth I did my first degree at Durham - did fuck all work and lots of drinking and managed to blag my way through arguing and doing minimal reading.
This time around (I'm on an Allied Health Professions course) I'm at one of those places that make MN gasp in horror (it's the most local option that does a niche course) and we are all having to work our arses off from the sheer amount of content on the course that we have to learn, fully understand and produce. While I breezed through my first degree - this time around undiagnosed dyslexia and information processing issues really came to the fore very very rapidly and I was diagnosed as I was really struggling.
And for comparison's sake - I missed a First from Durham by 2 marks, and I'm pulling every single mark at very good First levels this time so far so it's not as if I went in able to achieve only a third and then am suddenly getting firsts at a "lesser" university.
I don't think in our cases that the handholding has increased. I think technology has naturally allowed a development in terms of lectures being available online to watch back again (rather than ye olde method of frantically trying to scribbble as much down in your hour as you can), and lecturers being available via email to clarify if you've found you're still struggling with a point - part of the natural march of technology. We've had more support in terms of the library staff coming into our sessions to give us input in terms of things like referencing and article search skills - and there's more available in the library like academic writing workshops and maths clinics - but they're very much something you have to actively chase up and get onto yourself and, as always, those who want to do well and feel they need that support will go out looking for it and those who don't, won't.
Disability support's come on in leaps and bounds though - the amount of assistive technology and resources out there is absolutely epic - I'm almost fighting off support tutors with a stick as I don't really need them (my issues are just processing written text - there's a strong query over if my dyslexia is Irlens-type)!
The quality of our teaching is actually superb - I think our staff are very keen for us to succeed and will suport us - but that's a very small cohort and the staff all being from the same professional background we're going into and just wanting the next generation to do well rather than spoonfeeding. I'd say we probably have out of our group of 35 on the course (like I say - fairly niche single-profession oriented degree) about 5 or so as a hard core who have an attitude on them and can come across a bit as expecting spoon feeding - but actually even they're obviously slogging away in the background and putting the graft in.
Actually I'd say it was probably my "posh MN approved" degree that was the waste of taxpayer's money to be honest - probably more of a personality/maturity thing than anything else though. I just don't like the view that there are only so many universities that are "worthwhile" - especially when you're considering careers that require degrees but are very specific in nature and only offered by a small group of unis.
Just wish our local "MN beloved" one offered my course as the commuting is a fooking pain in the arse!