Bottom line is this.  It's really up to the individual person to make himself a good life with or without a college degree.  Obviously, a college degree will give you better odds of a good life, and attending a good college increases those odds.  But, I am pretty sure that there are a lot of great people that came out of the University of Hawaii, and a lot of not so great people who attended Princeton, Berkeley, UCLA, or any of the cream of the crop schools.  Ranking is fine, but just because you attend Princeton, it does not guarantee success.