If your peers don't see the genius in your plan, why not create your own coop and take those 500 bikes?

Admittedly I know no details about your situation. But I see the coop here and they have tons of worthless junkbikes all over that I'm sure they got donated and at some point thought they can use and sell easily.

I assume the university doesn't allow cherry picking out the good bikes. They don't want to give away the 50 semi decent bikes and be stuck with 450 rusted Walmart bikes.

Like the saying goes. My most expensive bike is the one I got for free.

I think the only way to make money is to have usable bikes they can sell and can restore with free parts. The metal value doesn't even cover trucking. If for example a regular pickup truck can hold 10 scrap bikes, it only can drive 10 miles to break even assuming each bike yields $1 in scrap metal. Total waste of time.