It's not exactly a fair comparison academically because it happens that some of the best universities in the country have a collegiate system and few of the less good ones do. Its also difficult because most people have been to one or the other and will be biased, so here is my biased view based on going to a collegiate university:
In first year you meet a similar amount of people in your college as most people at other unis seem to meet in halls. You then don't really meet dramatically more people throughout your time at uni except freshers joining your college, and obviously if you do uni-wide societies. I think this means you make better friends with people in your college, and have more of a community feel there, but fewer random friends. I found there was more academic support available to me in college than for my friends who didn't have colleges, but that is a product of my university system. I also really enjoy having college-level sports teams which aren't too serious, and create intercollegiate rivalry.
Not sure what you mean about them not being economical?