Although having done both degree and ATPL courses, my experience of both is unfortunately from long ago.
I personally found the degree course much more difficult from a perspective of the level of mathematics (it was engineering based) but the ATPL although easier technically, and over more skillsets, plus the constant noise of reaching a particular standard to avoid the dreaded chop constantly humming in the background made the ATPL tougher mentally.
That said the degree just about edged ahead on overall difficulty
That was years ago.
In recent history, both have changed. Both have now moved away from a genuine educational and learning process into something with financial gain at the core.
Germany has recently started crowing from the rooftops about how they have every university without student fees. This is a country, im sure even the most homeland loving German will admit, isnt perfect, however there is no doubt it is a nation that puts its trust in its achievers, and rewards its talent . The UK is in desperate need to follow this direction, not only in the educational sector, but also in Aviation.
The current model in aviation has been, on the whole, sub contracted out to third part "service providers" Its clear for most people to see, that with the current set up, the negatives to the industry as a whole far outweigh the positives
The practice of using finance as an additional filter to any process, be it a university degree course or a path to a virtually ringfenced area of work in aviation isnt fair and doesnt reward talent.
Subsequently big gains and advancements can be made to ensure those with the right talents end up in the most suitable careers. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Aviation in the UK
Manipulation of a course breakdown summary can tell one story, however there is no doubt that over paying for training then commencing work on an under salary is in essence "PTF under the counter" and is very prevalent in the UK industry. This is definately helping to drive everything downwards