One further point to Clanger and Superpilot...
In 1998 the gov't scrapped university grants and introduced tuition fees, which means that one problem us younger types have (not sure if I still qualify as that at 27yrs old) is large student debts.
I graduated with £13k of debt, the cost of my degree. I have now paid that off, along with some other silly smaller debts (decided to buy myself a paramotor kit on credit - doh!) by working the doors of Leeds, which is not exactly easy on top of my 50hr p/w day job.
Based on the above, I'm not going to spend the next 3 - 5 yrs doing the same thing and then commence training in my early 30s (no offence to anyone at that age). If I qualifiy at 28 I'll have a better chance of employment than qualifying 5 years later.