Agreed -- having a degree is important; having it from a prestigious/expensive university, for most people, is quite often much less so.
Obvious exceptions exist; we don't typically see presidential candidates who came from a community college. But most of the time, the degree is there more to show you could commit to a more self-directed educational experience than high school, and follow through with it while not usually under your parent's roof. Executive functioning, basically. Show some engagement in clubs, sports, or other activities for a bonus.
In many fields, if anything beyond this is expected, they want a graduate degree anyway, and this is where it can pay to splurge on the name, depending on your field.
My friends that stuck it out in community college near us were on the 5 year plan. 5 years until they had enough credits to transfer to a CSU. A lot of the courses were remedial to catch people up and the college track classes filled up instantly with people that had been in the school for years getting priority. If you came out of high school at a college level, you competed with all of the people that had taken 2-3 years of catch up courses and they got the spots.
Obvious exceptions exist; we don't typically see presidential candidates who came from a community college. But most of the time, the degree is there more to show you could commit to a more self-directed educational experience than high school, and follow through with it while not usually under your parent's roof. Executive functioning, basically. Show some engagement in clubs, sports, or other activities for a bonus.
In many fields, if anything beyond this is expected, they want a graduate degree anyway, and this is where it can pay to splurge on the name, depending on your field.