What justifies paying 53k a year for Harvard? I went to a state university for my undergrad in CS. Would I have learned anything different at Harvard?
But the main thing you get is graduating from Harvard, and knowing everyone from your class and school. Those connections are huge, depending on the field you're going into.
An MBA from a state school might work if you're staying in-state, but an MBA from an elite school opens the world.
If it is, then it should be worth any reasonable amount.
If it is not, then there is some other college somewhere that is better at at least one major.
Harvard’s undergraduate CS program is not in the top 10 (if you believe US News’s rankings, which I always take with a huge grain of salt), but that doesn’t mean that it’s worse that State U’s.
And if University of California, Berkley is better than Harvard at CS, then there you go, a state school that is better. The possibility certainly exists.