Do you have any facts to back this up? I would say education is pretty irrelevant if you've actually got something to show off (open source projects, etc).
And, perhaps more significantly, the social cachet of the institution among the population doing hiring and the probability of your network intersecting with those of the people doing hiring.
it's pretty well known if you go to a top university, then you're more likely to get interviews if you don't have much professional experience outside internships.
I'm not saying you can't work at Google from a no-name university, but but there is a steeper hill.
Once you have like 7+ years of professional experience, then education matters less.
You're totally right that a Name Brand™ degree will open doors at the staple companies like Apple/Google/Facebook. That said, the number of times I've been debriefing on a candidate and their degree came up as a factor is zero. That's after hiring 100+ in SF and interviewing a # I don't want to think about.
After years of professional experience and if you're a high contributing employee, then it doesn't matter. If you're a middle or slightly below average contributor then these things do factor in.
I'm fairly certain someone would get less job offers in a more conservative or religious city. They could luck out and never have HR/managers google their name, but were it known, religious folks don't tend to look favorably on that kind of hobby.
I don't think her school compensates for her hobby. It's location.