1) Work on the assumption that you WILL become a pilot.
2) You want to become a pilot as soon as possible.
3) Becoming a pilot is going to cost you £40,000.
4) It would take 4 years to save £40,000 whilst completing a Modern Apprenticeship.
5) It would take 7 years to gain a degree and save £40,000
6) At some point in your career you are out of a pilot job for a spell.
7) This spell will end and you will get back into a flying job again.
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On those assumptions a Modern Apprenticeship style route wins hands down.
I worked in recruitment in 1996/7/8/9 in the electronics design and manufacturing industry. I ran the sponsorship scheme for Modern Apprentices, A - level students and Undergraduates.
I saw up close just how much better off you are avoiding Uni and getting your hands dirty learning a trade whilst earning a weekly pay packet.
The world is full of people with an OK degree from some OK university. Finding people at the skilled technician level is the tricky thing. People who can actually DO things like find and repair a circuit fault.
People who want to oversee a project to define critical requirement specifications for circuit boards - leading a team of people in a time constrained business critical environment is, frankly, easy.
In my factory people with Electronics or Electrical Engineering degrees started on £13,701 in 1999. Typically they had 3 lots of £3000 student loans. They had to move to the area. They were usually 21.
My Modern Apprentices joined the company at 16. The by the time they were 21 they were in the following position. They had an ONC and HNC in Electronics or Electrical Engineering. They had an NVQ3 in the same. They had five years work experience and were universally though of highly by their line managers.
By the age of 21 they were in fact not Modern Apprentices at all they were skilled technicians. Their salary was at £17,101. I worried far more about loosing my MA's than loosing my Graduates.
The ex-MA's career prospects were frankly just as good as the graduates at that point. Most rival companies advertising jobs for Graduates with 2+ years experience also welcomed applicants with ONC HNC NVQ and 5+ years experience FOR THE SAME JOB.
I have seen several ex-MA and ex-Graduate employees apply for jobs at rival companies and there was no big advantage for the degree holder.
But by the age of 21 the MA has earned (gross)
Year 1 - 8.6k
Year 2 - 9.6k
Year 3 - 11k
Year 4 - 12k
Year 5 - 17.1k
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Total - 58.3k
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Call that £40,000 take home. He/she lives with their parents and saves hard. I call that time to call Jerez and ask for a brochure (nods forehead to a past employer of mine
)
Thats if you haven't got sponsored in that time (BA will count an engineering ONC and HNC for their cadet schemes).
University is fun but take off the rose tinted Ray Bans and recall the hovels you lived in. The all nighters on essays. The crap food you could afford and the deathtrap car you ran.
Counter that with staying in the same area with some old mates from school and some new mates from work. With your mums cooking on the table every night. With time and inclination to start reading those Bristol groundschool notes ( Alex
! ) of a weekend.
By the age of 21 in 1999 in my company a MA could have £40,000 in the bank and half the ATPl exams under his belt.
The new Graduate would be on 25% less pay with £10,000 of debt to pay off.
Of course I speak from highly coloured personal experience. But it is fairly insightful experience.
Good luck, just remember that - most times - there is no 'right answer'.
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