What would you do in my shoes?
I think it terribly depends. What are your ambitions in life ?
Is it to be an airline pilot or to fly airplanes (now there's a
big difference).
A few things to consider are :
- it's hard to pay off fATPL + type rating fees as a
gardener. So unless you're uncle sits on the board of a major airline that isn't about to collapse, you might want to work out a plan B ahead.
- you shouldn't do a degree "as a back up". With that kind of motivation, its gonna be a tough one to sit through your "corporate finance" or "advanced calculus" or "microbiology" papers.
- personal development is not really a luxury and a university degree in a subject that genuinely interests you will serve you a lifetime.
- university isn't for everyone. Not all gardeners would be better off swotting over an agricultural engineering or biology degree. And whilst some of the subjects like maths and physics help you in the understanding of the flying stuff, it's not a prerequisite. An airline pilot girlfriend of long past started an undergraduate mathematics programme for reasons like that : she failed
every single course, but went on and became a successful career pilot afterwards. She retired when the airline went bust just under 20 years later.