My older son attends our state flagship public university in its honors program while my younger son attends a private. I don’t know which of my sons will do better in terms of career success (both are pre-med), who’ll make more money, more happy or whatever. One thing that I’m very sure of is that there’s a world of difference in their experiences at their respective schools, along with vast differences in resources as @epipany pointed out above. For some families, like us, it’s also cheaper to send a child to a private over a public.
Re: “Dorms are immaculate” at Princeton? You must have seen them only from outside, LOL. But students there don’t pay for their laundry, and they do offer a chocolate fountain with strawberries and whatnot on Sunday brunches…