One thing that I read a while back is that some publishers/agents are wary of MFAs because they tend to produce cookie-cutter fiction of a certain type (aka, of the New Yorker variety) rather than encourage unique voices to emerge. Now, I'm perfectly willing to believe that that view is outdated.
I did one year in a PhD in Creative Writing program at a distinctly unknown program and I recall that the class on novel writing that I took had only 3 of us who were actual CW majors. The rest of the people were majoring in other things and were enrolled mainly for fun. Most of them were into genre fiction (mostly fantasy and sci-fi) and their writing reflected a very different style than what the 3 of us were doing.
Now, I totally had no problem with this, even though I'm not a reader of genre fiction. But one of my classmates had a real issue with it. He insisted that they didn't belong in a graduate-level writing class because they were writing in what he considered a lower quality (his opinion, remember - not mine) and that the university had only allowed them in because they needed the money.
I totally didn't agree with this. I ended up leaving the program (mainly because I had already been 2 years tied to my MA program and I felt like I needed to get out and work and find my own way in writing. I don't regret that decision, but I'm sure that many people have benefitted from MFA and CW programs.
Djuna
They either cultivate genre snobbery in higher education, or, they attract it. During my MFA, half the group went all-in on genre hatred. While I never turned genre in myself (I write epic fantasy now), others did: horror, suspense, science-fiction, speculative fiction. And it was light. Super light. It wasn't the in-your-face type of genre.
And it was well written.
During one session, half the class talked ABOUT the genre for 20 minutes of the writer's workshop time. Not anything constructive, but, "Well, this is genre, right?" kind of responses.
During another session, the teacher (followed by three of her lackeys) all but said, "I just don't know what to do with this. I just don't know. What is this? I can't critique this."
I have my theories...
1. Most faculty don't know how to teach plot and how to address it. I was told, "Don't worry about that, focus on characterization and internalization."
2. Most faculty feel inadequate and ignorant about genre conventions. It's a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, imho. "Oh no, science fiction. I can't do this." When in truth, you critique it like you would any other story.
3. Reputation. If they got a reputation that they were genre-friendly, they would be looked down upon by their colleagues. Academia has massive amounts of bullshit politics within departments.
When I taught creative writing, I had a few creative writing snobs in my classes that would complain about people writing genre. I always gave them the same response: "If you can't figure out how to critique something that you THINK is lesser, then you're in the wrong major." One student complained about me to the dean, said that he didn't become a creative writing major to read "fairy and zombie stories." The dean asked me about it. I gave a solid argument as to why I allow genre in my classroom (most students weren't creative writing majors and took the class "for fun." Imagine that? Creative writing for fun.) And that good writing was good writing. It transcended genre and should transcend genre. She listened to me for 5 minutes and said, "Okay, if you have any other issues with this guy, let me know. Everything sounds in order."
People who really do have an issue like the ones you mentioned (from your classmates), are either really young still (20s) or have emotional/mental maturity problems. And thinking back, the people in my MFA program who had issues were the young 20-somethings who hadn't developed their own method of critical thinking. They need someone who is in a mentor position to tell them what to think. One exception was a woman in her early 30s who was trying desperately to fit in with the younger group and who was a parrot for everything the instructor said/thought.
I have never met someone who is mature, thoughtful, and confident in their writing do the, "Oooo, stinky genre" (I-smelled-a-fart-expression).
People need to stop worrying about what everyone else is writing and focus on themselves. If they refuse to help another classmate because they don't "get it," or "want to," then yay for them for playing the "take my ball and go home" game.
On the other spectrum are people who think literary fiction is lame and have to gripe (constantly) about it. It's really the other side of the same coin. Grow up and move on. Don't read it if you don't like it, but don't make it some crusade to take a metaphorical dump all over the other--and in the process insulting millions of fans/readers. Accept that we all have different tastes and aesthetics. It's not that hard. Trust me.