This might be a difference between people who have come to think of their time/productivity as money or at least a resource to cultivate.

Many years ago it was very hard for me to justify a new laptop for purely personal use. One day I was preparing for a non-leisure trip that I'd otherwise have to miss out on paid work for. Even though the trip was short, it was easy to justify the purchase when the shift in opportunity cost covered the laptop.

A few other thoughts, in case you haven't tried them:

- Assuming these are mostly, say, students under the age of 25 or so--make it easy for parents to gift these memberships (whether that's a subscription or by paying for a gift card) and focus on marketing to them instead.

- See if an N-visit pass/bundle/card works. Might create a little more commitment than pure drop-in, but also avoid aversion to paying for something you might not end up using.

- On top of pure drop-in or a pass/bundle approach, leave some clear benefits to the unlimited pass (placement/scheduling preference, bring-a-friend, locker to store stuff in, etc.)

- If they won't be too disruptive, market something like a bring-a-friend subscription to more stable school-adjacent users like tutors, and then offer the students and tutors both a small referral discount if the students pick up their own pass.