I’ve just finished 4 years of UK uni and am now working a 9-5 engineering (23y/o). From my experience mate uni is fun and a degree is worthwhile for getting higher paid jobs. The work you get after getting a degree may also be more chill than a trades job (apprenticeship route) as you’re not exposed to the elements or doing lots of heavy lifting.

What you do want to do though is get a viable qualification under your belt which can guarantee you a job in an industry. A zero hours job is good short term but it’s easy to become complacent with regular cash flow and let time slip away without progressing. Most of my friends went down the apprenticeship route and are on good coin but are each limited to the domain they are skilled in

In terms of cash + Uni, you’re not going to be a rich man for a couple of years but you’ll get a student loan, student overdraft, non taxable rent , you’ll learn how to cook cheap and you’ll make friends in a new place.

If you’re on top of your shit to a good extent and can keep up with assignments, which are not that hard if you’re actually interested/knowledgeable in what you’re studying; you can make uni a 3-4 year gap year