Scott Duch,
If you've got a place to study at uni, given the current climate, I'd defo recommend doing that. I did exactly the same thing during the last downturn, finished my degree, did my training and here I am at 4.15am in a hotel in Europe about to go flying - who said this job wasn't glamourous?!
Whichever option you take, you'll end up killing time to get a job. Either do your training now, accumulate a massive amount of debt and watch it get even bigger as the interest takes hold whilst you wait for a job or go to uni, kill that time by getting a degree then start your training and things will have picked up by then.
However, to save thread creep, if you meet all the criteria for the initial assessment, then yes, you should make it to Stage 2.