Regarding "Research Track": you say both: "There are no grants or scholarships or ANYTHING available for Research Track" and "If your marks stay high enough, you stay in on a full-ride system."

Do you mean by "full-ride system" that fees, room, and board are covered? Because in that case scholarships seem to be entirely unnecessary. I did something close to that - got at least tuition every year as an undergraduate and actually ended off better-off than when I started as a graduate student; but it was all scholarships and fellowships.

The structural problem at the university level at present is that their staffing has been pulled way out of shape by the current market demands. Revamping to a different model might be stressful, though I suspect that any faculty who could get to teach Research stream would jump at the opportunity.

STEM might be where this is least needed. My overall sense is that the math and physics courses with serious cred (at University level) haven't changed much; the standards you'd be abandoning would be too obvious just by looking at the textbooks. It's the other disciplines which have tended to slide.