I'd think that the true measure of membership in the ruling class is to be able to found a university (or, failing that, create endowed chairs, establish a foundation to give grants to universities, etc.), rather than to need to attend one, much less to have to scramble to get good grades at one. Those who get good grades at prestigious universities come from the strata -- mainly poor petty producers and well-off workers -- to which most left-wingers on discussion listservs appear to belong, the strata full of righteous resentment against the truly rich who can get away with sorry grades and still end up in positions that reduce them to hirelings.
There are some powerful individuals and families who are members of both the power elite and the ruling class, but the former and the latter are not the same. The ruling class do not have to legitimate their wealth themselves; they generally delegate tasks of management and legitimation to the power elite and their hirelings. Prestigious universities' raison d'etre, I think, is to select and school sons and daughters of the low bourgeoisie, the petty producers (doctors, lawyers, etc.), and ambitious members of the working class into service to the ruling class. -- Yoshie
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