Desirability (or not) of elite college OTHER THAN relating to job/career/pay after graduation

Seminar class size of 10-12 (a nice size) at a typical state research university is still a money losing business. A state research university usually have quite a few professional schools (say business and engineering) at the undergraduate level. The faculty members at these professional schools are more expensive. In our undergraduate business school, the break-even class size is about 35-40.