I don't see how Elon is going to build the tube and then have students independently develop pods that they can just shove in Elon's tube and race against each other.

The proposed tubes in the whitepaper will cost upwards of $200 000. They also need to be carefully engineered to match the size and propulsion technologies as the tube.

How on Earth are student departments going to be able to afford anything of this scale or even be able to create something that could be inserted into a particular tube eventually? Not to mention that the technology is very out-there and I'd assume not within the realm of students or common engineers.