This is one opinion. Please get counter-opinions for balance.

IMO only mugs and rich kids go to university in the UK now.

I doubt you'll get working skills at uni. Depending on the course, you're more likely to get mind-broadening introductions to CS ideas and techniques you're not yet familiar with - hard stuff about algorithms, difficult languages you wouldn't usually touch, and the like.

But you don't get actual work experience unless you do a course with a one-year industrial placement.

At best you get solo and group practice projects you can maybe showcase to employers.

But - here's the thing. With GitHub and StackOverflow you can get similar project experience working from home.

And academically, there is nothing at all you can learn on a CS course you can't learn from books and the Internet. You may have to find and buy a few expensive books - but you'll have to buy the books anyway.

Three years from now everyone else will be leaving uni with no practical job experience and three years of debt. You have the potential to have zero debt and one, two, or even three years of practical experience, having built a solid project portfolio that should at least get you on a shortlist for many jobs.

And if you're interested in startups and business, you're much better off getting into that as soon as you can.

Assumption - you're fine with working hard. If you just want to sleep all day, this plan won't work.

There are three downsides. One is that some tech jobs specifically demand a degree. Depending how stupid the company is, HR may specifically filter out non-degreed applicants.

That's definitely a downside, but it's only some employers,

Another is that uni gives you networking opportunities and personal friendships you won't get at work. Some can last a lifetimem. They certainly have a personal value, and in the top-rank unis they have financial value too. (To be blunt about it.)

But if you're applying to Average Uni of Middleshire I'm not sure they're worth three years of debt and the lack of cash later when you're (e.g.) thinking about buying a house.

The final downside is that you have to look at the quality and location of the work you can get now. If you're in London or a tech hub like Cambridge, it's worth considering. Likewise Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, and so on.

Also, international remote. Well worth exploring.

Smaller towns - not so much. I'm sure there are small-town jobs with a future, but personally I've never seen one advertised anywhere.

So this only works if you have a realistic chance of a job with some prospects. If it's a crappy timewasting job where you learn nothing and get paid peanuts - no.

Of course you have to avoid those later too. They don't go away just because you have a degree...

tl;dr - if you decide you absolutely have to have a degree, you can always get one later. But the loan is a huge downside, and it can cripple your choices later.

It's smart to at least think about avoiding it. If you decide in the end it's worth the cost, you'll be making a conscious decision, not just following the herd.

I'd keep applying, just because. But unless things have changed you're not obligated to start a course until you sign up for one. So even if you get offers, you can look around for jobs for the next few months and not sign up for a course if you find something with prospects.