I know a few other people have mentioned it, but I think programs like Game Maker, Construct 2 or Stencyl are great for beginners. Particularly Game Maker, since it is still fairly code-focused. They are designed specifically for games, and I think a new dev could learn a lot simply by playing around with them. They will learn how animated sprites work, what the game loop is, how basic collision detection and physics work (from a high level), among many, many other things. Plus, most of these packages have some kind of "event" or "action" system that allows the new dev to simply drag'n'drop logic blocks around. While it can be easy for coders to look down on this type of development, there are thousands of game developers who basically learned programming logic from working with these type of systems. And learning to "think like a programmer" is the biggest hurdle for any new developer.

It is a great learning environment for making games, and would be a good foundation to then move on to all coding, or even stay with them, as they are quite capable of making high-quality games (particularly Game Maker Studio).

This isn't universal. Many nations will pay your full academic bill, but they strictly control who can enter the programs. If your primary and secondary grades were not stellar you have no chance of getting tertiary education in the nation. Germany is one example of that.

Sorry, but that simply is not true. Some subjects are indeed admitting people under a numerus clausus. The most important ones are probably medicine and law. There is also an unrealistically high number of people striving for those, especially law.
However, the majority of all subjects (including computer science) does not fall under this. Sometimes specific universities will impose a local NC or the NC is so generous everyone who wants a spot gets one (see this table for computer science).
Even if the subject falls under an NC you usually can just wait it out because if you persistently declare the desire to study the subject at that university after a few waiting semesters they have to let you in. You can work during that time or learn a vocation (in any field).