I was part of the University Scholars program (the predecessor to Schreyer) - it was an upgrade over the typical PSU education, but it wasn’t equivalent to an Ivy. Many of the Honors courses I took were actually just play time … they assumed you’d learn the material on your own, so you’d just do projects applying those concepts, rather than being taught the material in-depth. Same blah profs taught those classes as taught the regular versions. Got to take grad-level courses as an undergrad, but those were pretty rudimentary, too.
The typical Ivy just presents a different experience and atmosphere … academic rigor, contacts, connections, resources.
And Ivies can be cheaper, if you need them to be (and they are VERY generous with what they consider “need”).
Every situation is unique, though, and I’m about to enter a 4 year journey of college selection (via my 2 boys) that will likely involve weighing Ivy opportunities and alternatives … so this should be fun.