Wow paying $10k+ to network, that's great value. I might as well go shoot myself now, because that's just idiotic. Sorry for being harsh, but that's something I couldn't disagree with more and sounds like someone coming from a very very privileged background too.

Well, I grew up probably under the federal poverty line, which tends to make undergrad cheaper, and in that sense I'm quite privileged ;)

I got a CS degree so that I could be employed, but have come to greatly appreciate the friendships that I made in school. MBAs are sometimes sold on the basis of the networking benefits, so my perception comes from that.

Yea, I hear that a lot more with MBAs and law degrees. For my CS masters I am concerned with advanced technical content.

Yeah, I hear you. The reason I brought it up is other parts of this thread are about differences between a university setting and online videos - even though I studied CS for the content, people I know from school gave me job opportunities as well.