@ThacherParent very well said. And some “prestige” shoppers might also be checking off the academically sound box without doing due diligence.
Every family has a different calculus for fit. For some athletics, college preparation, guidance and many other factors are the reason to attend a BS. For others, prestige leads the way. Those “prestige” folks are pretty visible. They are also often “big donors” and their kids might be the full pay legacy based kids who slid in under that bucket ( the school needs these kids to pay the bills). Whatever the reason for attending BS, we can’t really question another families needs or weigh their merits.
As a family, we weight it all. It’s a lot of money to spend and we want to make sure money is spent correctly at schools that fit in multi-dimension modes for our kids. And we force the kids to consider ALL the factors too. Kids can be more impressed with prestige than their parents.