Degree is not worth this much.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2021/10/11/new-...
People with degrees, especially in stem are small (in compare to all ppl) group of people who are willing to put multi year, intense effort studying non trivial things
So yea, just those traits make them more likely to earn more
Go ahead and give degree to somebody without skills in good paying jobs and see whether that person will be milions ahead too
So the biggest salary gap is at the beginning and later everything is up to the skill
If you want fancy jobs like Jane Street then "just" degree from random school may not be enough