Compare the number of times someone from an Ivy League college says something like "I learned more about supply and demand curves than someone from a public university" versus "I had classes with/roomed with/was a fellow alumnus with X which helped me get a job at Y."
I know the Ivies also give some 100% to poorer students, but I wonder if they are kept out of that most important part of their private college experience.
In a nutshell, YES. Sure, there are certain courses that are 'better' taught in Ivy league (or Ivy league-esque) schools ...for instance my sister went to one of the best institutions for chemical engineering in the United Sttaes, and from what she tells me there are few other institutions that she would have gotten that level of scale and scope.
HOWEVER (particularly when it comes to business) the main advantage of Ivy League (or esque) institutions is PRIMARILY the contacts and pedigree. It is not about the competence of staff (which is generally higher, with a lot of ex-professionals who actually did what they are teaching in the real world), or the student-professor ratios (which are better than in average universities), or the resources available (which are top-notch and can offer certain advantages) ....the main thing is the contacts.
If one person has an A but has no contacts, and another has a C but has major contacts, the person with a C will have it quite easy starting out. Sure, the one with the A (I am not talking about grades ....more about will to power and a strong self-drive) will still become very rich (may even become richer than the other person), but he will have to do it the hard way (the traditional way that necessitates good old fashioned sweat equity). The person with a C but with contacts may be totally incompetent and totally unworthy of the position, but due to contacts and pedigree he will get a major boost.
Look into the world of business AND politics ...there are many people who are total incompetents who only got where they are due to contacts and pedigree. Take that out, and they would not even run a small family business in Enid Oklahoma! Yet, due to those contacts, they hold some of the most powerful positions in High Finance and Politics, and (as to be expected) they did a 'great' job of it in the process.
A person with an A (again, not an A of academics necessarily, but an A of personal fortitude) will always make it in life, and will always be rich and have plenty (in terms of money as well as other measures of 'wealth'). That will always be the case. However, one cannot discount the profound and prodigious advantages that can be garnered by being fortunate enough to be of a certain pedigree, or by attending an institution of a certain pedigree (there is a reason why during the Dot Com days one of the analysts ...either Grubman or Blodget ...wrote an incorrect assesment of a company because he had been offered a position for his child at a prestigious prep school ....thus it goes far beyond Ivy league. You have to go even lower, all the way down to schools like Sidwell in the US and Eaton in the UK).
When I have children, I know I will pay top Dollar (or whatever currency pertinent) for them to go to the very best schools possible. Not just for the education (although that will be a prime consideration, and I will supplement it with some home schooling to develop an edge), but also for the patina that arises from attending certain institutions.
If they can give a C personality a boost (as we've seen in some of our business and political leaders), I am sure they can give an A personality one as well.
In summation, Ivy League schools have never been about the education. Sure, they offer top-notch educational opportunities, with facilities and educators who are as close to the 'real thing' as one can get (since, in mnay cases, they used to do the real thing), but the main benefit of such an education is contacts. Contacts who can smooth things for you in getting a job, and being on the inside track, can be a major advantage.