Area manager - whats best?

just found out that i'm in for a promotion to manager - one step closer to my aim of area manager, question is i want to go to uni so is it best to take promo for a year then go uni and then apply for area manager if thats what i still want to do or forget uni and concentrate on the new promo and hope to work my way up to area manager. i don't know what to do - i'm at a crossroads - any suggestions would be great.