Maintenance engineering = high quality assessed practical training / apprenticeship / "trade" qualifications, moderate academic training.
Design / analysis type engineering = degree level engineering qualification, low to moderate and probably unassessed practical training.
The two are very very different, only combined by the use of the word "engineering" which both fields feel they own.
With an aero-eng degree, you are qualified to pursue many fascinating jobs, such as aircraft design, aeronautical research, technical support, project management. But not maintenance.
An engineering graduate who wants to pursue a maintenance career should find the academic bits fairly easy, but is starting from scratch with everything else and the point of having spent 3-5 years on your degree becomes rather questionable.
They just aren't the same job, what they have in common is lots of years of education and training, being around aeroplanes, and the word "engineer" - the rest is pretty different.
G