Finding meaning to life

Searching the internet for ideas, I came upon this inspiring article however, unfortunately, it is from a British newspaper and makes reference to programs which don't exist here. In addition, the set up for retirement is different there and several of those interviewed mention taking early retirement, which isn't an option for me. There are some programs in the United States but I find that things like this are hidden. Occasionally I'll hear about one on the radio (such as the College For All Texans for seniors) and if I hadn't written that down in a notebook at the time, I'd never find it again. Throughout my college-trying years I have never, I mean never ever EVER had a student advisor tell me about anything useful like this. In fact, I went to so many advisors that I came to believe that "Student Advisor" meant "An Advisor Who Is A Student" 
'Cause that's who I got.
 They took out the catalogs, read the information printed in them and pointed at the page while they were reading it! Some advice.
Here's the dilemma. I have to live somewhere, wash clothes and also eat. If there's time for full time school it means I have enough to live on and therefore don't qualify for financial aid. If I'm working full time, there isn't time for the school. Let alone supplies.  I got a grant and took the Digital Literacy class at no charge, paid for the book and took the class while working full time and while technically homeless (staying in a corner of my daughter's one bedroom apartment with her and her one year old, and sleeping on a semi busted, third hand sofa) and I not only completed the course, but came top of the class. Result...Nada. They changed equipment on us 3 times, changed the location of the class 5 times (not just the room but also the campus and even the town) and moved the college's IT department as well, resulting in not being able to even take the test for certification at all. There were 30 people enrolled at the start of the course and by the end of it, 11 students remained, and of those, not one took the test. Two of us persisted, and only I even took the practice tests...on the very last two days allowed. The teacher admitted to us that of the previous class, only two people passed the certification, and they were people already working in a job where those skills were needed. So the college and the teacher and recruiter and United Way all got paid and they can use statistics to show how many of us "clients" were "helped", but the truth is that the whole thing was a frustrating waste of time. The certification is all very well but the course did not teach the skills needed to get a job, it only gave the rudiments of using the Microsoft office program. (side note: the classmate who stuck it out with me to the bitter end wasn't a grant recipient, she paid $1,000 for this. Now she works at Lowe's)
(second side note: Microsoft makes and sells that course, CCI Learning Solutions Inc and there are a lot of questions in the test on material which is not covered in the textbook. Our teacher was having issues with trying to contact them and get a fair test as well. Global Standard, my eye.)
And, of course, having already taken this class, I am not eligible for a grant to do it again.
Well, there was one result. I was exhausted, and I lost 40 lb.