I skipped uni for an apprenticeship and make £29k at 19: How to earn and get a degree

Jack Smith, 19, from East London, is the first in his family to pursue higher education. His dad left school at 14 years old, and his mum at 16.When he arrived at his school's sixth form three years ago, he felt he wasn't given much information about university and the different options that were available to him. But after doing his own research and making more than 50 applications, he is now on a career path which sees him earning £29,000 per year - and is on the way to getting a masters' degree-level qualification at the same time. Jack says: 'At the start of year 12, I hardly knew what university was. My parents left school at 14 and 16-years-old. But the more I looked into degree apprenticeships, the more I wanted to do it.' A degree apprenticeship is a paid job that combines full-time work with part-time higher education. Shortcut to a successful career: Jack Smith is on a degree apprenticeship with the National Audit Office and will end up with a £62,000 per year job It allows you to earn a qualification equivalent to a bachelors or master's degree without paying tuition fees - but remains a little-known route into work. Jack's programme is with public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office and is delivered in partnership with online university, BPP.He opted for this route despite getting grades BBB for maths, biology and philosophy at A-level, and offers from top universities such as Warwick, the London School of Economics and Kings College London. He will finish his five-year-long level 7 programme debt-free, and will be a qualified chartered accountant with a masters-equivalent qualification earning £62,000. But as degree apprenticeships weren't discussed much at school, Jack only learned about them towards the end of his A-level studies. Balancing applications with his A-level studies and a part-time job in a restaurant meant he couldn't apply to many places during his final year, so he took a gap year and treated applications like a full-time job. In the end, he applied for 50 and received two offers.He said: 'In my mind, this feels like a shortcut. I would have had to go to university, apply to 100 places for summer work experience and then another 100 for grad schemes.'If you know you want to go down the finance route, it makes sense to go for an apprenticeship.'Living in London, opportunities weren't sparse for Jack - but for others, location is also a barrier to degree apprenticeships. New research shows about 32 per cent of degree apprenticeship opportunities are concentrated in just ten postcodes, creating 'opportunity deserts' in many parts of the country.That's not to say there are no opportunities, however. Daisy is in her second year earning £24,500 I'm training as a solicitor in Wakefield on £24kDaisy Britton, 20, is in her second year of a solicitor degree apprenticeship earning £24,500, having started on £20,000.She admits finding opportunities in Wakefield, where she's from, was difficult as most were concentrated in Leeds or York.Daisy's six-year programme combines online learning at BPP, with one study day a week and 35 hours of full time-employment Monday to Friday.After completing her degree she will take the SQE exams to qualify as a solicitor, a process which is spread over two years.For Daisy, who studied business, law and English at A-level, a degree apprenticeship was a no-brainer, having been alerted to them by a 20-year-old family friend.She says the hiring process was simple and the interviewers cared about her hobbies and volunteering rather than her grades exclusively.Her apprenticeship at the law firm also counts towards the work experience needed to qualify as a solicitor, meaning she won't need to secure an ultra-competitive training contract elsewhere as graduates must when they finish university. Daisy says: 'With a university route, you would obviously do your law degree, but then you would have to go and find a training contract at a law firm to do the two years of qualifying.'They're very few and far between. A lot of firms will want experience, which you just can't gain as much of when you are studying for a degree at university.'Meanwhile, my four years of my degree at work count as qualifying work experience.' Aaliyah currently earns £28,000 a year There's no one making you do your work... Aaliyah Harris, was extremely close to pursuing a career in medicine via university until she fell in love with history at A-level and deciding to train in law. The 19-year-old, from north London, was originally offered a conditional place with Norton Rose Fulbright provided she received AAB grades. Despite attaining ABB, the firm accepted her – but she believes this situation might have been different had it been with a university. Now she earns £28,000 a year. While her pay will increase through her six-year course, once a qualified solicitor she could make up to £140,000.She works from Tuesday to Friday with an online learning day on Monday.Aaliyah says it takes a certain type of person to succeed doing an apprenticeship.She says: 'There are no university lecturers emailing you to get your work in on time. 'If you do it, you do it. If you don't, you don't. So I feel like if you're not somebody who can independently push yourself, this isn't really the route for you.' Abdullah says there is a lack of opportunity outside LondonOpportunity desert?Although degree apprenticeships seem to be a great alternative to university, the Social Mobility Foundation has found the share of opportunities going to young people in deprived areas has fallen since 2017-18.There are fewer than 0.4 opportunities per 1,000 young people in Blackpool compared with 104 opportunities per 1,000 young people in the City of London.Degree apprenticeships are 3.5 times less accessible to young people eligible for free school meals than Russell Group universities, even when they have the grades to get in, research found. A young person from a wealthy, opportunity-rich area was 375 times more likely to access a finance degree apprenticeship than someone from a low-income, opportunity-poor area.Abdullah Naveen, 17, is currently in his second year of sixth form in Birmingham and wants to apply for degree apprenticeships, but is struggling to find opportunities outside of London. Due to high living costs elsewhere, Abdullah plans to stay in the local area. He says the location of roles isn't always specified in job adverts, and he has to manually email careers teams to ask.He said: 'I think that the Government should 100 per cent urge for more opportunities outside of London, whether it's in smaller areas or big areas like Birmingham.Abdullah has a list of 30 apprenticeships he intends to apply for with four he's prioritising. Having used TikTok to inform himself, he believes degree apprenticeships should be better outlined at school. He added: 'A lot of people, especially in South Asian families who know of the UK education system think university is the only option.'But it's not, apprenticeships are just as valuable.'Sarah Atkinson, CEO of the Social Mobility Foundation, says: 'Degree apprenticeships should be a strong alternative to the traditional university route and a powerful engine for social mobility.'Together, Government, employers and education providers must expand access, remove barriers and create more opportunities in the areas that need them most. 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