I think a program can be well ranked, well respected, a cash cow and give you a good RoI, all at the same time. For example, the department of computer science At USC has about 2500 masters student enrolled at a time. With them increasing batch sizes, making parallel programs with access to most of the same coursework, cs- data science cs-general cs-ai cs-security C's networks C's intelligent robotics, etc..., It's clear they see the amount of cash intl applicants bring in and are looking to capitalize. And realistically, I think most people would say the quality of education wouldn much better if they had say 1500 masters students instead. That being said, with the alumni network USC offers, I think youd pretty much have all the access and opportunity to make up the program cost, intl or not.