If you land in the Ivy league, then yes the price tag might be worth it. Who wouldn't hire an MIT engineer, or an Harvard Lawyer if they can afford it? But if you are not at the top schools why rack up the same type of student debt while you can get the same level anywhere else in the world?
If your field is cultural then yes studying in the country in which it is more pertinent makes sense (Why study Japanese literature in Italy just to illustrate). But if your field is technical, or removed enough from local culture then looking around makes all the sense in the world.
But frankly there is plenty of schools that I regard as highly as MIT, CMU and such that are Europe (Polytech Paris, Poly Lausanne, Normal School of Pisa, Poly Milan, ... I am forgetting a lot) or Asia (Tokyo Tech) and while you might need to get a loan for some costs it will never get to US levels (I studied in Unis in Italy, France and Japan to get my BS and MS and all my loans were exactly EUR15000 by the time I found a
job ... I had part-times and Scholarships but those were not hard to get, and I had declared bankruptcy I could have gotten rid of those since I took those loans in Europe).
Of course if you can land in the Ivy League, or at least in the top half of it, you won't have any tradeoffs to make: the financial aid for families making less than $100K has gotten really good at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford (I think MIT as well, not sure on the other Ivies).
I made a slight profit in my final year at Harvard, combining financial aid with 5-10 hours a week of part-time work.
Obviously it was nice for me, but it's sort of gross, in that the kids who need aid least (based on future earning potential) get copious amounts of it, while others are (in my opinion) scammed into onerous, non-dischargeable loans, with lower earning potential to boot.
I left Italy because I was looking at a future in which I would have been one of those 5 young devs that got hired instead of someone like your dad.
I am still young and am always relocating to find better projects and conditions, and its been working for me in this past 5 years. But now I know that there is also a lot of companies out there that are willing to hire people from across the globe and let them work remotely.
Those jobs are not easy to find, and are a small minority in the job market, but they are a beacon of hope for really good devs for which relocating is not an option. You (royal you ... which means potentially your dad) will generally get good money but might have to set up your own taxes, insurances and benefits, so it's not as hassle free as just being a normal employee.
Relocation, IMO, is always an option. Just speaking English is enough ... and English is not hard.
If your field is cultural then yes studying in the country in which it is more pertinent makes sense (Why study Japanese literature in Italy just to illustrate). But if your field is technical, or removed enough from local culture then looking around makes all the sense in the world.
But frankly there is plenty of schools that I regard as highly as MIT, CMU and such that are Europe (Polytech Paris, Poly Lausanne, Normal School of Pisa, Poly Milan, ... I am forgetting a lot) or Asia (Tokyo Tech) and while you might need to get a loan for some costs it will never get to US levels (I studied in Unis in Italy, France and Japan to get my BS and MS and all my loans were exactly EUR15000 by the time I found a job ... I had part-times and Scholarships but those were not hard to get, and I had declared bankruptcy I could have gotten rid of those since I took those loans in Europe).