It's looking at ROI. And the cost of education typically correlates with quality and long-term earnings. (Put your pitch forks down, not all schools, just generally.) So, if I think about this on a 20 year horizon. I have a $50K degree program at a state school vs a $200K degree from Harvard (numbers rounded). Lets just use 10% as the ROI. At 10% over 20 years, the return on the state school is ~$336,000. For Harvard, this yields ~$1,350,000. So, the ROI might be the same, but you basically get an extra million over 20 years for getting into Harvard.
It's looking at ROI. And the cost of education typically correlates with quality and long-term earnings. (Put your pitch forks down, not all schools, just generally.) So, if I think about this on a 20 year horizon. I have a $50K degree program at a state school vs a $200K degree from Harvard (numbers rounded). Lets just use 10% as the ROI. At 10% over 20 years, the return on the state school is ~$336,000. For Harvard, this yields ~$1,350,000. So, the ROI might be the same, but you basically get an extra million over 20 years for getting into Harvard.