Depending on the program, the quality of your instruction can be vastly different from college to college. While an elite college is not a guarantee of a good curriculum, or better teachers, those colleges are more likely to have better programs (but you can definitely find less prestigious colleges with great programs too if you know what to look for). I always double check a universities curriculum to get a general idea for quality, and I've seen them vary greatly.
I think that's a myth. I got several jobs (well, interviews) because of my Stanford resume. Yet I keep up with zero people from my class. The name is the thing.
Did you get internships? I did an internship every year at my school and their network helped me get them. Network doesn't just mean knowing people from the school after graduating, it also means leveraging it to get ahead while you're still in school.
You make an excellent point about education worth points that are harder to measure.