I've had a few chances to build the University since starting this thread. Today I built it pretty early, using 2 quarries, the builder, a gold on the builder, and 4 more gold. My next build was an (instantly manned) Office, which I usually don't buy, but I thought it might pay off quicker and better than the Factory even though I was producing several different goods. Soon I chose trader, and the office allowed me to ship a sugar and a later a coffee that I otherwise couldn't have shipped. With the trader bonus and small market it quickly paid off.

Had I picked the factory instead of the office I would have paid more (with the 2 quarries, 5 gold instead of 3). Then I would have had to either wait for others to choose Craftsman, or take it myself and risk getting shut out of some of the shipping if the next player chose Captain. Choosing trader I get to shut them out of some or all of the trading.

Later I took a Coffee roaster, Wharf, and Fortress. With the University they were all immediately manned and I had no shortage of colonists. It was also neat to leave an available colonist on my coffee plantation, knowing that when I bought the Coffee roaster I could make coffee right away, without waiting for a mayor phase to be picked first.

So, I like the University if the situation is right for it, and I'm choosing the Factory less. I definitely wouldn't have it cost 8 instead of 7. The Office is more useful in games with less players, I think, because with more players the trading house might be full before it got to me anyway. It's also more useful early when nobody makes any tobacco or coffee yet and the trader sits there paralyzed with corn, indigo, and sugar already inside. Then the only way to trade at that moment is with the Office, and the trader will probably have a bonus gold or two on it too, and nobody else can trade that round.