Well, Harvard and Yale and the like are still at the top, and likely always will be. That said, I attend a public university, and at the time of my admission it was ranked 25th in the world. Pretty good. (I say "at the time of my admission" because there's been a scandal within the last year that has likely damaged the reputation considerably. But it doesn't really have anything to do with the quality of the teaching.) That said, it is definitely at the high end of the tuition range for a public university. The exact numbers vary from college to college, but it costs more than that $8,000 you supplied. Still less than $20,000 though.

$50,000 is an utterly ridiculous number, restricted to a small, small handful of private Ivy League institutions. It's definitely not necessary to shell out a quarter million dollars just to get a uni education at a prestigious school. Depending on your interpretation of prestige, of course. No one beats Harvard for name recognition. But there are many excellent schools outside the Ivy League.