We've debating the pros and cons of elite colleges before on this blog. Now, the NYT has joined in.

One interesting finding:

A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores — one marker of elite colleges — didn't pay off in higher post-graduation income. Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn't attend them — either because of rejection or by their own choice — are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.