If you want a graduate job, or can afford the luxury of the personal development for the sake of it, do a degree.
If you want to be a professional pilot, do a pilots licence course.
If you want a combined graduate/pro-pilot job (mostly military) do a degree, then fly later or in parallel - but these jobs are very rare.
If you want a backup, get a qualification to do something - cooking, massage, plumbing, gardening, lifeguard, gym coach, whatever - something that is a skilled job with a clear demand.
A degree is not a backup, catch net, reserve, call it what you like - it is entirely about a combination of personal development and enabling you to enter a graduate profession (engineer, accountant, physician, military officer...)
If you want to look toward graduate / management roles in aviation after qualifying as a professional pilot, then fly first and look to a part time degree done during your down time.
G