Well I can answer your second question - they certainly do have time for all of it , because I hire lots of them. AND, guess what, they have part-time jobs too. So no idea why you think 'most people' don't have the time they certainly do. It also depends on your uni and module choice - as they vary in difficulty. People must choose them carefully if the workload is overwhelming then they may not be suited. Bear in mind as well that 'harder' projects usually provide something you can build on, so you don't need to spend much time on coming up with your own personal stuff just add to it.
As I alluded to upthread the reality is that a programming is less 'academic' and more of a craft. Top courses especially can be too much theory, less programming and while most RG grads are clued in enough to have their own projects I do see the odd few who haven't.
Once you have the fundamentals down learning any technology is quick but there is no substitute for the hours of experience to get there. How quickly people want to do it, is up to them. Some get this over years... and advance slowly, some choose (like me) to do it on their own time.
IT is not easy - apart from the 'do it yourself' you are also competing with the entire world. At any given time., your job could be automated or offshored. Obviously this applies to a lot of professions but a doctor for example can't be offshored and an accountant needs to have the accepted qualifications + works closely with the business.
The main reason I called you out is because it's more damaging for people to go to an 'RG' uni and barely handle the workload. Compared to going to a 'lower ranked' uni and doing their own projects, really understanding what they're doing. The focus is also different the former is much more theoretical and does academic things that 99% of programmers will never need. Of course, if you can do it all, go for that!
Companies are going towards apprenticeships and bootcamps now. Personally if I had my way I'd institute proper qualifications and training programs, like in accountancy, do a degree if you like but that's not the main point. Then the employer pays for training instead of people doing it on their own - and the skills are all centralised and transferable. The majority of 'certifications' are loved by HR but useless in real life as they're geared towards memorising the features of vendor products with no understanding of the core underlying tech. Especially with AWS I have 'certified people' who don't know that a load balancer is an infrastructure concept not something that AWS invented.