a recreational area for rich kids

See Krugman's futuristic writing looking back to 1996 from the end of the 21st century: Krugman and the end of the Industrial State

The famous universities mostly did manage to cope, but only by changing their character and reverting to an older role. Today a place like Harvard is, as it was in the 19th century, more of a social institution than a scholarly one -- a place for the children of the wealthy to refine their social graces and make friends with others of the same class.