you might decide that it's worth being an outcast and feared and possibly killed, for the chance to get three square meals a day, a roof over your head, an education and the chance to learn how to set your enemies on fire.

It's rather moot, because you're not given that choice. If you're a mage, you go to the Tower, or you're hunted as an apostate--unless you get killed by the magic-hating villagers.