A very interesting debate.
I myself majored in Aerospace Engineering and graduated in summer 2007 from a UK university with honors. The idea was to get an edge over other rookies and to have a back-up. Also, the then state of economy scared me away from forking out even the mere 35k for modular training. Uhm ... has having an engineering degree now helped me find a pilot job with decent pay? Unfortunately I must say ... rather not. At least not to this point.
Now presuming I will be earning a good salary as a pilot in the next few years and supposedly am unfortunate to loose my medical in say 5, will I be able to work for Airbus or RR as an engineer not a mechanic (amazingly and graciously called engineers in the UK too, only God knows why) after that, after being years out of college? Rather not. Simply for the fact I just will not remember a thing of what I studied during my college days.
I am CP licensed with current ME/I ratings and am already flying for a living (admittedly SE VFR "only") but am finding it sooomewhat difficult to land that first elusive job on bigger aircraft. Trust me, have become veeery efficient in sending out CVs ... but the market seems to be inundated with pilots. Some of my friends, who, when I decided to get a degree first, started their flight training earlier and what are they doing now? Flyng 320s and 737s and other beauties and cashing in a couple of grand a month as they were ready when operators were hiring. Oh boy, how much do I wish to have started my training back then, too.
The point I am making is, a degree is not that much of relevance in the UK, as, for instance, it is in the US. It is the hours. And it is the time of training. History books suggest there have alway been economic downtimes but also highs and it is in downtimes when people need to start training so they are ready when pilot demand picks up. That being said, however, I do not mean going integrated and wasting an awful lot of money on training which in no way is any better than modular.
And now, fire away...