This is because the elite universities no longer exist to educate students. Instead, it has evolved into a massive patronage scam for the children of elite society, particularly at the undergraduate level. Some of the stupidest people I have ever had to deal with in my life are people that graduated Harvard or Yale in the last 10-15 years. They went there because of who mommy or daddy knows, or bought, and their entire four years was one big party, after which they were handed a meaningless diploma, but a meaningless diploma that said "Harvard" or "Yale" on it, which for some sad reason is enough to impress many people. And it automatically identifies them as An Elite, which grants them carte blanche to the East Coast snob industry, particularly the New York media industry, where they are granted entrance immediately at age 22 and put on the career fast track, without the least regard to actual ability.
It is the world's biggest scam, and the faster the rest of the country figures that out and stops treating these people as gods, the better.