Becky87 – hello!
I have only a PPL and am working toward the ATPL’s, but I have been flying for about 3 and half years now. Some of my good friends are instructors, or were instructors who are now employed in the airline sector. So I speak from my own experience.
There could be number of reason why your instructors and the old PPL’s have not been employed. They could be over qualified, ie too many single engine hours or setting their sights too high – by this I mean perhaps they only wanting to fly jets for a first job, and there are those who simply don’t fit it. All speculation of course!
I have never read anywhere that having a degree will help you into the pointy end of a commercial aircraft. Most degrees are in my opinion, not applicable to the operation of an aircraft and therefore not required. As Blinkz mentioned, a degree will give you a backup plan should you flying career never take off, it will also give you some life experience and social skills.
Depending upon the university course you were considering, you would end up with a significant amount of debt, in the region of £15K. Now, assuming you a fit and healthy person, you could join the University Air Squadron of the RAF where you will be paid and gain flying experience at the same time – not bad eh?
Alternatively, obtaining a fATPL, ie passing all theoretical and practical tasks for getting into the position where you can be considered for employment will cost you at a minimum £40K and take about 18 months. There are “sponsorship” schemes around, some better than others and I would recommend you search this forum for more info on that subject.
I would not advocate doing the ATPL’s whilst at uni as the level of commitment, especially if going down the route of distance learning, is far higher than a university course. Escobar mentions doing the CPL at the weekends and the IR in your holidays! You’ll be hard pushed to find a school prepared to conduct CPL training at weekends, and even then, you may be some distance from the flying school and have excessive travelling time. As for the IR in the summer – no chance. The pressure to pass would be far too high and you will be significantly increasing your chances of wasting your money.
It’s a tough choice and I would not want to be taking it. But before embarking on the route of becoming a professional pilot you should weigh up all options and make the decision that suits you.
Hope it helped.
Funkie
Ps – use the search function and you will find a number of discussions regarding the University degree topic.