I don’t think a good CS degree is “easily” worth $120k.
On the other hand, if you carefully select the courses, work to get the most out of the opportunities there, etc., you can get a very valuable education at UW. I've seen it too many times for that to be a fluke.
UW isn't going to hold your hand, it's up to you. There are a very large number of local UW graduates who became wealthy.
As a hiring manager I don’t even care if you have a degree, I just want to see you can ship. There are a lot of viable alternatives to that 120k, as you say you just have to work hard to succeed, regardless of chosen path.