I consider an expensive private school eduction an investment decision (although it’s not all that is). So to me, it depends on what monetary trade offs we are talking about, and what are the “players” in the running for you to pick. Prestige is not worth a lot, but it doesn’t bite either. That’s just me. I occasionally hear people attending/attended prestigious schools say oh prestige is nothing but I almost never hear people from non prestigious schools say oh prestige means a lot. This is reasonable because othe one hand, the ones who speak from their own experience deserve you to listen to. On the other, if you haven’t had something how would you rate it anyway?