- Not particularly. As I said before, costs could vary enormously. You could find quite a few “poor scholars” who managed to make a go of it by taking on a part-time job as a tutor or through the patronage of the rich or by taking holy orders.
- Some nobles did attend, although they tended to prefer taverns to lectures; also, they rarely took degrees and tended to view Oxbridge as one finishing school among many, where one didn’t become an academic (that was for more modest people) but rather was lightly educated in passing. Indeed, the British system of higher education’s emphasis on tutorials over lectures was an outgrowth of the fact that the upper crust tended to prefer to hire people to do the education for them rather than do it themselves.
- The gradual professionalization of British government and civil service didn’t get started until the late 17th century and wasn’t finished by the late 19th century, so for quite some time a degree was not required. Didn’t hurt, tho.