Strongly disagree. You can get a full masters from UT Austin with specialization in AI/ML for about $10k. Fully remote. https://cdso.utexas.edu/msai . Compared to a typical bachelors which is what, about $50k?
Bachelors degrees from selective private schools now cost $50k/year.
Rather than spending an extra year getting a state school masters, you can also gain a year of ML work experience for a net positive six figures first year out of school. Which is more valuable?
I think it's 100% individual. I didn't feel like I learned enough, so I stayed in grad school. If you feel otherwise, you absolutely should follow you own path. I've interviewed and worked with hundreds, ranging from bootcamp to PhD, ivy league to city college, and i've seen so many - both - failures and successes, that reducing signals even to education in general, let alone some specific combo of it, without hearing out the person first, is a straight up bias.
Rather than spending an extra year getting a state school masters, you can also gain a year of ML work experience for a net positive six figures first year out of school. Which is more valuable?