A big advantage of removing the opportunity to fly from the doorsteps of UAS students is that one will then be able to see who is motivated enough to travel to the flying venue.
It will also conveniently get rid of those students on hours intensive degrees (maths, sciences, engineering etc) - having regularly done the two-hour drive from Coventry to Cosford on my one afternoon off per week, I'd say that the current system is bad enough! Weekend flying would solve that problem, but then you have QFIs with nothing to do Monday-Friday, and not enough of them at weekends.
If we are looking at an overall cost issue, then surely it is a good thing if all EFT pilots are paid - NOTHING!!!
Direct Entry EFT takes 6 months, during which a non-graduate would expect to earn around £10k before tax. The UAS course, to make up for the lack of continuity, has an extra 30 hours in it above JEFTS (or did when I went through). Not sure on hourly cost of the Tutor but by the time you've added pay for the student (if that's still going - OC rates on the days they fly) then the cost may well be similar.