Programmer here - It’s pretty simple. Go where your parents can afford to send you without them co-signing private loans over to you. The only profession where salary can justify the high debt amount would be medicine…and even that’s pushing it. Not even even lawyers make enough to justify the average student loan amount.
Technology is a comfortable fruitful profession, but it doesn’t justify large debt. By the time you make enough to drive a Mercedes to work, your student loans will be paid off. Salary in the tech industry is based entirely on work experience, so you should expect to make a relatively modest salary for the first several years. That’s why you don’t want high debt, because you’ll have a very difficult time paying it off at a modest salary.
No, there’s no special tech salary for people who go to elite schools. That’s a big myth and I chuckle every time I hear it. They love to boast “high starting salaries.” Well, most are on the east/west coast, with a higher cost of living. Plus, all that overachiever fluff wears off in a couple years anyway. I’ve worked for a number of different companies, including fortune 500s, and none of them asked where I went to school. Believe me, employers could care less, because the job has probably been open for 6 months.