I can't speak for everyone but, in the US, I would imagine students especially cooking with fresh ingredients is pretty rare, especially guys. Personally I didn't start doing that myself until I was married and really only because my wife enjoyed cooking. Since kids I can't imagine being on the processed food train - most people I know didn't start cooking at home when they had kids.

I'm a big proponent of the "cooking is way easier than you think" camp but you'd be surprised how little some people have in their pantry and cabinets. There's folks that don't even own a baking dish, anything more than a 12" frying pan is probably a big ask depending who you're talking to. Spices? I knew kids in college that didn't even own table salt and pepper shakers... if I said the word turmeric I'd get a funny look.