Most of the crapweasels that attend Harvard would pay for the imprimatur of Harvard on their diploma even if the tuition were $100K/year. Harvard is all about the "brand" and little to nothing about education.

Your typical local public school doesn't have the marketing "brand" that Harvard has.

But a reckoning might just be coming. Someone is bringing suit against Dartmouth, another one of the Ivy League, on the basis that they're paying for an "experience" - not just instruction and a piece of paper:

https://www.vnews.com/Dartmouth-sued-over-tuition-online-learning-34558123

 And one of Harvard's trade school students is suing Harvard over their online tuition:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/abc-news-exclusive-harvard-law-student-sues-university/story?id=71345292

Most US colleges and universities will have serious problems if they cannot charge for room/board. Their budgets require that cash flow to survive, and without it, they're going to have to make some cuts in their employment.