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If you are weighing up sixth form options, start with our guide: What Should I Look for When Choosing a Sixth Form?
When today's parents were applying to university, the path was relatively clear: A Levels, UCAS, clearing if necessary, three years, a degree. The alternatives were apprenticeships, practical, trade-based, and widely regarded as the consolation route for those who hadn't managed the grades.
That picture has changed substantially. And sixth forms that haven't updated their guidance accordingly are leaving students without the information they need to make genuinely good decisions.
What Is a Degree Apprenticeship?
A degree apprenticeship is a programme that combines paid employment with a full university degree, typically at Bachelor's or Master's level. The student works for an employer, usually four days a week, and studies at a partner university for the remaining time. The degree is fully funded by the employer and the government: the apprentice pays no tuition fees and earns a salary throughout.
At the end of the programme, typically four to six years in length, the student holds both a degree and significant professional experience in their field. They graduate with no student debt from the degree itself.
This is not an apprenticeship in the traditional trades sense. Degree apprenticeships are now available in law (with firms including Clifford Chance and Pinsent Masons), accounting and finance (with the Big Four accountancy firms and major banks), engineering (with aerospace, defence and automotive employers), technology and digital, nursing, and a growing number of other professional fields.
How the Numbers Compare
A student who attends a three-year English university degree will typically graduate with £27,000 in tuition fee debt, plus maintenance loan debt that varies by parental income but averages around £25,000–30,000 for three years. Total debt at graduation: £50,000–60,000, accruing interest from the point of first study.
A degree apprentice who completes a four-year programme earns a salary throughout, typically £18,000–25,000 per year in the early stages, rising as they progress, graduates with a fully funded degree, and begins their professional career with four years of relevant experience already on their CV.
These are genuinely different propositions. Not better or worse in every circumstance, but genuinely different and a student who has not been helped to understand both cannot make a properly informed decision.
Why the Route Matters for Sixth Form Choice
Degree apprenticeships are competitive. The application process for schemes at major law firms or technology companies is comparable in rigour to applying to a selective university. Entry requirements typically demand strong A Level grades, three Bs or above is common, with some programmes requiring ABB or above.
This means that a student who might be a strong degree apprenticeship candidate needs sixth form support that prepares them for that application process: work experience, employer interactions, an understanding of what professional recruiters look for, and a personal statement (or equivalent application document) that demonstrates their professional as well as academic development.
Sixth forms that prepare students only for UCAS applications, personal statements about academic subjects, university visits, A Level subject guidance, are not equipping all their students for all the routes available to them.
What Good Sixth Form Preparation Looks Like
Whether a student ends up at university or on a degree apprenticeship, there are things that good sixth form preparation develops that serve them on either route.
Self-knowledge. A student who understands their own strengths, working style, and genuine interests is better placed to make any post-18 decision. This comes from consistent individual conversation, not group assemblies.
Professional experience. Work experience that gives students genuine insight into working environments, not just work shadowing, builds both awareness of options and the confidence to talk about them in interviews and applications.
Awareness of all routes. This is the most basic thing, and it is still not happening consistently. Students need to know that degree apprenticeships exist, who offers them, how to apply, and how to evaluate whether a particular programme is right for them.
Application support for both routes. Schools that treat UCAS as the application and degree apprenticeships as the exception are not serving all their students. Both routes deserve proper support.
At Leweston
We believe that the most important thing we can do for our Sixth Form students is ensure that every post-18 decision is genuinely informed.
Our LEAP programme covers university pathways in full, subject knowledge, personal statement support, UCAS navigation, and interview preparation. It also, explicitly, covers degree apprenticeships: what they are, who offers them, what the application process involves, and how to evaluate whether a particular scheme is the right fit.
We have had students go on to Russell Group universities, to art foundation courses, to degree apprenticeships at national employers, and into training programmes in professional sport. We do not have a hierarchy of good outcomes. We have an expectation that every student leaves us knowing exactly where they are going and exactly why.
If your family has not yet had a real conversation about degree apprenticeships alongside university, it is not too late to start. Come and talk to us.
At Leweston, we support every post-18 pathway. Our Head of Sixth Form would be happy to walk you through what careers and university support looks like for your child specifically.
Ready to find out more?
Call 01963 211015 or visit leweston.co.uk to book a visit or speak to the team.
Leweston School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in Sherborne, Dorset, for pupils aged 3 months to 18, offering Nursery, Pre-Prep, Prep, Senior and Sixth Form on a single campus.