As others have noted, simply removing the parents and shadchanim from the equation and allowing young men and women to engage in their own meetings, dates, etc. is more likely to result in successful long-term relationships than the highly structured and often forced meetings many rely upon today in the frum tzibur.
choosing a halachically inappropriate option as the solution is just dumb. I agree that the system is not working, and I agree that the age gap theory is just a way for people to live in denial of the efforts they need to put in to finding a shidduch, but I don’t find any evidence that coed life is the way to assure people find the right match. Having several relatives practicing that approach, I have not found it to be a shoe in for meeting your bashert. Or did you mean something more structured?