My Mom went to an Prestigious University, when my Mom went back to work after the kids got old enough to take care of themselves (to some extent..), that degree opened doors. She was explicitly told, hey great university when she went for an interview. We had a friend in our peer group didn't go to state school like us but another "Prestigious University", he was a history major (we were engineers), but he never had trouble finding work.
I mean Balmer and Allen met gates at Harvard...
Its not the only thing, I suspect it not nothing.