Or you could just get a job in your local garage and work your way up through..
My brother left School at 16 got a job at the local garage, he went to college 1 day a weekend and did an NVQ or similar, then went from their to the local Peugeot Dealer, then onto the Honda Dealer and then onto the Toyota dealer.
A job came up a while ago at this place
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/
He applied and got it and now builds them from the chassis up, Whenever you see The Green Atom 3 on top gear or 5th gear, my brother built that car.
Have a look out for a book called "The Mechanics Tale" by Steve Machett, he worked his way up through a number of car dealerships and ended up working at Benetton spannering on Schumachers F1 car...
I'm not so sure you need that degree you think you do...