I personally believe having a university degree on top of your aviation career will always give you a great sense of security to face any aviation crisis and is almost always a great choice. I say almost because it may not be the best choice if the area of work the degree prepared you for is extremely hard to find a job in, that is definitely something to take into account.
Regarding the base choice, usually at the beginning of your carrer you tend not to have too much of a 'choice', you basically declare your preferences and depending on the company they may try their hardest to satisfy your request or they may not. Once you have a lot more experience you can try to negotiate contract terms. Hope this helps.