The proxy settings are about all you can try, but I've not heard of people having much success with that option.

Really, the only reasonable path is to try to communicate and co-operate with your univ's IT guys, and see if something can be worked out. Over a few brew in the pub, maybe they can suggest something like LAN sharing within the univ network, bandwidth caps outside of regular office hours, or other ideas that protect the network from the tremendous bandwidth a bunch of students can happily use up