The Freshmen took a math test during orientation and were slotted into either Remedial, College Algebra, or Calculus.
It's my understanding that the curriculum of College Algebra is the bare minimum of topics that must be taught in order to offer the course for credit at an accredited college. This explains why the topics are seemingly drawn at random, with little flexibility.
The lower level "remedial" courses were offered but did not come with credit. You still had to pass College Algebra in order to graduate. Or I think maybe Statistics.
The education system has struggled to teach math since time immoral. Every generation tries some new method, and is ultimately declared a failure. I don't have a good answer. Most adults retain barely any of their high school or college math, including people in STEM occupations. I've heard "I'm not really a math person" from engineers. Parents remember how their math was taught, and complain when their kids aren't learning math the same way, but frankly the parents are terrible at math.