* Universities make much more money off their Masters students, most of whom are international, and pay full tuition (or someone does for them).*

It's a scam.

The Ph.D. is the real graduate degree in US schools. If you get a MS, people who know the system expect that you flunked out in quals (it's the parting gift for those that couldn't handle the work). Terminal MS degrees at serious schools are just outright selling prestige to the naïve.

A MS from MIT or Stanfurd is much, much less prestigious than a BS degree from the same school and requires less academic rigor.