Depends on how much you take out in loans. If you go to Stanford, sure you might get a 100k job, but in California, that’s paycheck to paycheck. Add 150k in student loans to that and you have a recipe for failure. Loans are fine, but you have to be smart about them. I got loans at a “non elite” school, and I’m doing just fine in my career. I went to a less expensive school. The idea is to use them to get a strong education.