> You can absolutely get value out of being at a good school (I'd say even a mid tier school has value) -- both academic and social. It's just...is that worth $200-300k and 4 years of your life?

Most undergraduates at top schools aren't going to come anywhere near paying $200-300k. The top schools almost all have very generous aid programs that cover most of the cost by scholarships. Here's some data for MIT [1].

[1] https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/the-cost-of-atten...