G, just logging on quickly but my two cents for what it's worth:
When I look back my regret is that I didn't do what I love. At school, all I enjoyed and all I was any good at was drama. I wanted to go to drama college. Everyone laughed, said I was stupid, pipe dream and so on. So I didn't go. Then I found out there was a college in London for people on low incomes - all the classes ran in the evening and at weekends so that people could hold down full time jobs. I went to secretarial college to learn how to be a PA so I could put myself through the drama classes - but when I tried to do the drama qualification at the college they told me I couldn't get in on one A Level to the 'proper' drama school so I didn't apply and just got a job instead (and later found out I could have got in on one A-Level, they waived formal entry requirements and went on potential and dedication instead).
Then I went to Uni and took English and Drama - again, only took the English because everyone said drama wasn't a proper subject so I took English as well. Then I found I got better grades in English so I dumped drama all together. I still regret it and I still wish I'd gone down the path of what I loved, rather than what seemed sensible or most useful.
I only say all of that (and keep in mind I don't know how your system works there so there may be certain hoops you have to jump through to do anything at all) but I would try to pick out a few courses that you think you'd love to do - regardless of work opportunities or previous experience - and then look at those more closely and see if one of them would work for you (or maybe more than one, so you have a back up plan). But in your shoes right now I'd really try to go for something that will just be an enjoyable experience and give you back your zest for life
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As far as being elitist goes, I don't know what it's like here but in the UK Universities are businesses like any other. They need bums on seats and tuition fees paid and they love mature students - because they've chosen to go, they know it's a great opportunity and they work hard. The kids that are there because Daddy threatened to cut their allowance if they didn't go or because they didn't fancy working in McDonalds and three more years at college puts that off for them or because everyone else in their family is a doctor/lawyer/midwife or whatever - they don't work so hard and they don't do as well.
So my humble advice to you would be to look into what you love, see what you can get that works for you from that and then get in there with your head held high and show them what you're made of. Tasks like applications I find I can cope with better if I break the job down into stages (get paperwork together. Find certificates to do with blah blah blah. Photocopy form so I can practise on a spare. Get pencils, pen, ruler. Address the envelope. Fill in easy bits of the form first - name, address, date of birth. Start drafting other bits. Draft again. Re-draft. Finalise. Proof read. You get the idea). And I block out a chunk of time and break that into ten minute chunks and I cross off each ten minutes as I go (I don't know why this helps me but it does, ten minutes at anything doesn't seem like too long and I'm always amazed how much I can do in ten minutes and it gets me down my list faster - just makes me feel like it's easier for some reason). It might help you. You might have a better way to tackle it anyway. But whatever is going on now, I think you've got this
xx xx xx
