With IBR and PSLF, is worrying about IVY League MSW debt less justified?

[curiousfuture]

This might be a silly question, but with my understanding of the math and using this repayment estimator:

https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action#view-repayment-plans

It appears that assuming the continued existence of IBR, REPAYE, or PAYE *and* PSLF; the payments from an even worst case scenario of going into debt to pay for the total cost of a Columbia MSW program combined with my other debts (200,000 dollars at 265 to 459 dollars a month), roughly equal the standard payments of the 40,000 undergraduate student debt I have now (401 dollars a month). Using the PAYE plan alone, it is estimated that I would have 284,588 dollars of debt forgiven tax free after 10 years, all along with the possible networking and research benefits that attending a pricey MSW program would bring about, say particularly for a career in academia

Playing Devil's Advocate, is the reluctance to take out loans of this magnitude only a fear that PSLF, IBR, and PAYE likeminded plans would not exist in the coming decade or so, because of political decisions by Congress, or is there some financial or legal detail I am missing out here? I understand that if PSLF goes away, to say that a lot of the people who took out huge loans would be harmed is an understatement, but when I hear of people who took out at minimum 100,000 dollar loans to go into any of these pricey schools, is there not a point where with PSLF, the exact numbers on the debt don't matter anymore precisely *because* of how huge they are, thanks to PSLF and repayment plans like PAYE?

Realistically speaking, I thought I was probably going to shoot for a state school with the accompanying state school tuition since I would save money in the long run, but with the ramifications of PSLF I am curious about the forum's thoughts on my question. If it is true that my current debt would roughly have the same monthly payments as debts with an IVY League MSW education stacked on top of them it might change my calculus a bit, but it still seems like an incredibly risky endeavor. Thanks to PSLF, is it ever financially worth it to attend an incredibly pricey institution? I am planning a future academic career if that changes anything. Thank you all for the advice in advance and have a pleasant day!

Edited June 28, 2018 by curiousfuture
missed a letter