Redmania, like you I have a 2.1 in engineering. I fully understand that its not the best paid job in the world. I only earn about £23k but even with a mortgage and high maintenance girlfriend I seem to be able to save about £4k per year - admittedly it would take a while to do all your training at that rate but by following the modular route it is possible to spread it over a few years and only do a section when you can afford it. I'm only going to quit my job when I get to the IR stage which I really want to do full time.
The kinds of work I was thinking of were trades such as plumbing, where apparently the pay is pretty good (not sure how much the taxman sees
). Alternatively, with a degree in engineering, you should be able to apply for just about any graduate type job. A lot of people from my course went into consultancies such as Anderson Consulting starting on £30k+ (I wish!)
All I was trying to say really was that there are lots of ways to get the funding other than relying on sponsorships, and as sawotanao says, part sponsorships can ask for up to £30k, which is about the same as a self funded modular fATPL!
PW