On average 80+K

for a Master in City Planning (two years, if full-time).

That's just plain stupid.

Here's the funny part. If you're a military veteran that served 36 or more months in *active duty the Post 9/11 GI Bill covers about 60K, leaving you with 25K in debt. That's for a two-year degree if you attend full-time. Before 2013, the GI Bill did not cover tuition for the Ivies.

If it helps ease the sticker shock, a city planning professor said - when he asked a student where she was applying for grad school in urban planning (she mentioned Harvard and UPenn) - to just attend a Big Ten school. "Why? Go to a Big Ten school where you can get the same education for a fraction of the cost."

The prestige, sometimes, just isn't worth going into serious debt.

Now there are many factors to say "it was worth the money." The professors, the training (both practical and theory), the peers and networking. Of course, there's the ohh factor of saying you went to an Ivy League school. 

Regardless, I'm going to invest in a bottle of vodka now.

*Iif you sign a four-year contract going active, and you either (A) don't die or (B) aren't discharged before that 36th month mark you receive the maximum benefits. Those in the Reserves/Guard it's harder to gain those 36 months due to the nature of those two components.