Tizer, when I did the calculation for Buckingham (and we did look at it when DD was still without a medical school offer in mid March) we factored in that she would start in January rather than the following September so would have an additional year of career earnings. Costs were higher but as an investment decision it made sense.
I assume "A poster above usually bats for LSE. Suddenly Buckingham is ok but not for her DS!" is aimed at me. I had thought this board was about sharing knowledge and experience, not about "batting" for any particular University. Ultimately any decision should be about fit. Buckingham may absolutely be the right fit for some students, in the same way as small liberal arts colleges are often the preferred choice in the US. Buckingham is probably not the choice of partying kids wanting "the student experience", but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Four terms a year means knuckling down and getting on with it. Yes, some will not be the most academic, but a strength should be having peers who are hard working and focussed. And as I suggested upthread, a smaller University can offer better pastoral support.
In the past I may have been guilty of "batting" for London. When DS was starting there was a poster, I think called BubblesBuddy, the one who used exclamation marks as if she was a young teen at boarding school writing her first love letter, who absolutely slammed Imperial. It turned out that her DD had been at fashion college in London. It was hard to work out the parallels between her experience and that of, say, a very bright and slightly nerdy, science mad 17 year old who had every chance of finding their people and their place in South Kensington. At that point there was lots about Oxbridge, but a chorus suggesting London was a dreadful place to study. It seemed mad to discourage potential students away from a world class education on pretty ill informed grounds. (I am pleased to see that there are now more posters confirming that their DC are enjoying their London student experience. Then again there are several posters saying the same about Buckingham.)
The sort of students that LSE, UCL or Imperial would suit, would probably not enjoy Buckingham. But the reverse also holds true. As for law, I have just looked up the Universities of three solicitors I have used recently (probate involving property) and they were Ulster, Aberystwyth, and Bournemouth. All were very good and I would use them again. (I have conveniently forgotten the names of the less good.) I can't see why a Buckingham law degree wouldn't sit equally well.