Absolutely.. .edu & .gov sites are considered authority sites... but you need to be careful where you place the links.. most of the auto approved .edu blog comment links are spammed to death & putting your links there will not help.
Getting a link on a proper .edu site is not at all easy and if you get there, it can prove to be one of the best things in SEO. Getting .gov backlinks are next to impossible for any commercial site.
My site ranking in the top 3 out 50 million plus Google SERP results....certainly benefits from all the EDU links pointing to it! Hell some of my EDU blogs have ranked number one with copied content....ranking higher than the original source. Are all EDU backlinks the same - NO - However some are special...and can really help you in the SERPs.
it all depends on keywords you try to rank.. i can build a site and it can be ranked in a week in top 10 for 5,000,000 SERPs..