Well, Fachhochschule and University are both free, and admission is based on merit, sometimes with bonus points for civic / volunteer engagement. However, there is a correlation between parents' financial and social standing and childrens' success in
school. The German school system is quite complex to explain (partially because we have 16 independent ones, one for each state), and efforts are being undertaken to help students from disadvantaged families succeed, but more work is needed to close the gap.
Most of the people with fancy degrees that I know don't give a damn about the title. It might be more pronunced in older generations. That's just my sample point, though.