@ucbalumnus I agree somewhat with your post #121. I disagree with the “decent parental situation.” It is as simple as kids are dependent on what their parents are willing to spend. And, no, paying for an elite college education does not define good parenting. 
I find the list of numbers that posters keep listing as more of a testament to not pay for an elite education than evidence to the contrary. These are numbers listed just for chemE:
MIT Chemical Engineering 71,138 72,500
…Stevens UCB Alabama UIUC UM-AA UVA GT
Chemical Eng 69150 68818 65178 68887 70290 65629 72500
Take the above list. A student attending Bama on scholarship might spend anywhere from $0 to say a max of $60,000 (living in most expensive housing and staying on a meal plan or eating out all of the time) for 4 yrs of college. What it would cost at the other schools is highly variable. Say $10,000 for very low income to $280,000 for high income parents.
Career-wise, my dh and oldest ds are both chemEs. I know that for the different companies that they have worked for that “school pedigree” has absolutely nothing to do with where they are in their respective careers, and it has absolutely everything to do with how they do their jobs.