Sorry to hijack ... just wanted to say that I get on really well with the 18/19 year olds on my course - not that there are many lol!! Most people on my courses seem to be over 22 ... and I don't feel weird at all. Academically it's fine - as AT82 said the older students value education and the tutors seem to repect this, and I find I get on better with them than the younger students.
It's strange, because I don't really feel like a 'mature' student - even though I am much older than most of the people on my courses, I'm living in halls and generally enjoying myself lol ... and my situation is totally different than that of most of the 'proper' mature students (by whom I mean the 30+ students with partners, families etc ...) In fact I find that they can be the most difficult to get along with, because they kind of resent you coming under the 'mature student' heading too ...