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This is still absolutely the case for top tier schools - the Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc Ivy/West Coast Ivy level schools are all about building a social/professional network that will last the rest of your life. These are also the kinds of schools where financial aid dramatically reduces costs for the majority of students - many of them offer varying levels of financial aid up to family incomes of $180,000/yr.

The problem is public and less selective private colleges that have the same price tag as these schools, but deliver much less value.

[srtjstjsj]

Public schools don't have the same price tag, (except out-of-state schools which are essentially private with respect to those foreign students).

The Ivies are interesting but statistically irrelevant simply because they have so few total seats.