Kirstey + 777,
Look on the bright side,those that are in the college on the old rates of pay will have to buy the beers!!
Seriously though,this is a very tricky subject and it can only be down to the individual to decide whether they can take the offer.That is what the offer is,it is up to you to decide if you can afford to put pen to paper.
When i started with Eurocontrol we were the first ab initio to take a wage cut,it went down from 18k(GBP) to 9k (approx)!That is not a lot in Luxembourg.The other courses bought us a lot of beer!(It has mostly been bought back since though).
All i can say looking back is that it was hard but nothing worthwhile is ever handed to you on a plate and i wouldn't change my career for anything (having previously worked as a surveyor before ATC).