I have to agree with Dr Paperclips - I left school as an immature 17 year old and I was barely sensible enough to put in the effort to get through Bournemouth
after the BEng. Uni was great, I did get some otherwise unachievable life experiences and I got myself (a pretty useless) degree, but without it I doubt that I'd be a controller now. I would have given CATC a half-hearted go and then had to find a new path - yeah Uni could have been an option, but then NATS don't give you a second chance.
I have to agree with Gonzo too - he didn't bother with all that getting in to debt malarky, he knew what he wanted to do and did it. He has 3/4 years more paying in to the pension pot (for what its worth) and 3/4 years more during career at the top of the pay scale (i.e. he will earn about £1/3 million more than someone who went to Uni first
). What would he have gained from a degree? Will he get to a point where those letters behind his name would make a difference? I doubt it.
I did it slightly differently by applying during my second year at Uni, then deciding I may as well do those extra months to complete the degree, so I got NATS to defer my entry to allow this. That did take the heat of me during my finals when I didn't have worry about job hunting during the recession of the 90s.
So ask yourself honestly, how mature are you? Could you give it your best shot? Could you cope with being away from home and learning to feeding yourself at the same time as continually being assessed on one of the most demanding things you will ever have to do? If so then go for it!