My impression is that elite institutions generally do not have a higher cost than the reasonable alternatives, so there's no need to justify if it's worth payin

My impression is that elite institutions generally do not have a higher cost than the reasonable alternatives, so there's no need to justify if it's worth paying more for them as you're not paying more. Their credential value is strongly linked to their selection, but if they do select you, studies there can be more affordable than a "lesser" institution, especially because they are mostly funded not by your tuition fees but rather by the endowments of their alumni, so indirectly through your future income. The highest cost seems to be for good-but-not-best institutions that have some specific niche/selling point for them but are not particularly selective and will accept almost anyone who will pay their price. Like, if some school wants to build a reputation for having the best scientists or lawyers then they have to be somewhat selective with respect to performance and have very competitive admissions, but you also need to ensure that the particular young students with most potential can actually afford to study there; but if a school just wants to provide a good education in X and does not care who will enroll, they can just ramp up the fees until the applicants filter themselves out.