It's happening in the post-college world as well. I can say with certainty that the nature of recruiters and the recruiter/employee relationship has downgraded horribly in the last 10 years, and it impacts businesses as well as candidates.
My approach is to understand the relationship and make whatever system I have work for me. You have a unique bonus in that if your school is affliated with the recruitment program (for example, if they post on the job board at your school) then your program likely has a lead to a point person at the recruitment. If you are pursuing internships out in the wild, however, then you're at the mercy of the regular world.
If it's through your school:
Take it to your college placement/intern program people. Most companies work closely with schools to improve the candidate pool, so if the company's process is wasting candidate time then your school should be helping to fix it. It's in your school's best interest to make sure communication is flowing here, because if for some reason the opportunities are not flowing to your school, there's a real possibility that your school is not preparing candidates as well as it could and they should pursue that feedback.
Particularly in the world of internships - this is supposed to be a growth experience, and you have a little more right to feedback than you might in the wild world of post-college work.
If its not through your school:
It's a nasty world these days. I have yet to find a job board that gave good job leads.
When it comes to recruiters, I basically expect that they will flake. Many flake before the phone screen with opportunities that are never fulfilled. In most cases I do expect to hear back about a phone screen - but if I don't, I don't really waste time on it. Calling the recruiter back and asking is as much a waste of my time as theirs. However, if the recruiter or recruitment agency comes to me another time with a new opportunity, I do say "how about that last one???" And if they seem to have absolutely no clue, I do give some commentary that I am not so thrilled about working with someone who can't seem to keep track of where they've sent my resume or what positions I've been interviewing for.
In general, I've started to treat recruiters as human search engines. Since they seem to invest little time in developing a relationship with me, I do similarly - I won't promise exclusives, I won't promise to check back with them, I won't go out of my way to help them be more competitive in the marketplace, since they aren't doing likewise for me.
I do up my expectations if the recruiter is from the company in question. I expect to hear back from them, and if I haven't heard in a week, I may touch base with a friendly "hey, how'd it go?" sort of professional style email. No judgement on my part, just an honest question and expression of my interest in the position. If i don't hear back, I don't bother with more. But I understand that in-house recruiters are slammed, and often adrift in a sea of too much work, so perhaps my friendly ping will remind them of something that fell off the radar.