Students still have to take core classes for a bachelor's degree, and those are historically where students on the fence figure out what they want to do.

That applies quite a bit less to students who aren't in the liberal arts. I received a bachelors of music degree, which has very few slots for electives, and all of those elective credits were covered by my high school AP courses. It seems that according to this new system, my degree would not have allowed for any electives. My school didn't offer a bachelors of arts in music, which is the degree offers more of a liberal arts focus and would allow for electives. I don't know if this is the case, but it concerns me that passing AP courses would have the effect of limiting students' ability to explore their options in college.

I am a career changer now, and I suspect that I would have realized earlier what I wanted to do with my life if I had branched out and tried a few more classes.

As far as Pell Grants are concerned, I remember reading that the low graduation rate can be directly linked to the fact that although these grants cover tuition, they don't actually cover cost of living and thus the need to work gets in the way of Pell Grant students from graduating. In other words, as costly as Pell Grants are, they still aren't enough to overcome the problems caused by poverty.