It's 2025 and I'm in a similar situation. I'm looking at CUNY, CSULB, or NIU. The "a degree that won't do anything for them" might be a bit hyperbolic. In the last two years allegedly half of the MA students at CUNY got into top PhD programs like UT Austin and Stanford. Even if it is a "cash cow" the degree does things for people—how many people and how consistently is unclear.
I agree that money is a consideration, but CUNY's tuition is actually lower than CSULB and cost of living isn't far off. Putting money aside, the question is one of faculty attention and educational experience. I am going into philosophy of language and CUNY has people I want to learn from and courses I want to take. There are a lot of PhD students and few MA students, which means that to include us in faculty attention wouldn't place a great burden on faculty but it also isn't as incentivized because MA placement isn't a priority. What kind of "attention" does one need anyways? They have a MA proseminar and they have a MA capstone where you write your writing sample. Being memorable for a recommendation letter seems like a different and lesser form of competition with PhD students than getting support with application writing samples. Where exactly is there going to be a deficit of attention for MA students at CUNY?
