No, I don’t think there is much advantage to have a world class faculty at the top of a syllabus but conducting research, writing books, and working with graduate students while TAs are teaching the undergraduate classes. I do not believe that top brilliant minds always know how to teach or relate to the developing minds. Teaching is an art form and many people who have an amazing understanding of topics have no understanding of how to convey that to others. In addition, I do not think that there is any measurable quality difference in the students sitting in honors college classes in State Us vs. those students sitting in the most selective schools. The honors colleges across the country are filled with peers to those in the selective schools.
Graduates of state schools also have great track record with graduate schools and top employers and are highly sought after. I personally know of state school undergraduates in summer programs in Wharton finance classrooms sitting beside HPY students and running circles around them. This is not because of any superiority but because of AP credits those state school students had already worked in upper division classrooms and were already interning with professors. I personally know of state school students who are interning in top finance BB and IB shops on Wall Street and in SanFrancisco with multiple first round offers. I personally know of state school graduates who are getting seats in top graduate schools across the country, even in finance, law, and medicine despite the insistence of many posters that top shops only recruit at T20 schools. I personally know of state school students who are living their best lives and have turned their back on the notion that their worth is dictated by the name on their degree.
Where you sit determines where you stand on issues. The input determines the output and the best and brightest students don’t need an artificial name bump because they will make sure that they land where they are meant to be. The students chosen to be at selective colleges will succeed because of what they came in with, not as a result of the school that they attend. Those students, with the exception of low SES students who would not have the means without the financial aid of HYP, would have found success at any school. Those top performers at less selective schools just do this while saving $100,000 - $150,000 and incurring little or no debt. We can all agree to disagree since this has been discussed ad nauseam.