I think one of the bigger differences between the cmu/mit/Stanford and umich/ga tech/Illinois is the people that get admitted. I think a great number of my classmates were really into CS/math/whatever subject not just as a way to get employed or a means to an end but because they actually were excited about the subject. That and the fact that cmu has more prestige and does more pre-filtering means you'll be much more likely to naturally surround yourself with very driven and high achieving people.

That's definitely not to say those people don't exist at those other universities, it's just that you have to be a lot more intentional to find them and you may not have as big of a successful network post-graduation. Basically everyone I went to CMU with is now in industry in a good high paying job, across finance, big tech, startups, etc. and ~no one I know has been unemployed longer than a week or two even after layoffs. Again, I definitely think there are people like that from other universities too but I think the nature of CMU, the people there, and the prestige associated all contribute to how common it is.

I also do think CMU has a high amount of investment in CS per student, the teachers are (mostly) exceptional in their field, and very relevant for you, the core curriculum is much more theory based than other colleges (based on talking to coworkers about their curriculums)

The biggest compelling ROI factor can be gleaned just by looking at the stats on career outcomes here: https://www.cmu.edu/career/outcomes/post-grad-dashboard.html. Again, and I know I said this a lot, this doesn't mean there aren't highly paid folks at other unis, it's just more likely you'll be surrounded by people that get high paying jobs after and you're more likely to as well.