Is honors college worth it?

[teachermom2834]

7 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

Honors college gives him what I  was looking for: Small classes and what he's looking for good food, big school and clubs but he wants to know his professors. I don't feel I'm overestimating but I know he is. He has this idea of what it would be like to go away to college that I can't shake him of. It doesn't help that he's heard horror stories of how much more difficult Universities are then CC's from his cousin. Digging deeper it's not just honors college thing that he wants less classes. He just wants to take less classes in general to focus and get A's. So I think that added year unless I can talk him into trying 5 classes at this point the extra year is there regardless of honors or not. 😞  As for the money we're trying to figure that out. It's unrealistic that he would take the bus even 2 days a week, commuting costs about the same as dorms first semester then drops in price, then there's the dorms (off campus housing isn't an option for him.) 

 

3 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

. I'm more concerned about getting him through with classes he likes/tolerates because if he doesn't he wont finish and then that's a ton of money. 

 

3 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

He wants the college experience as seen on comedy TV. If we do go down the route of taking out extra for that then EVERYTHING gets more complicated. I want him to have the best experience without massive debt.

 

3 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

I got his permission to add: He has ASD, sensory issues, ADHD, Depression, and other mental illnesses. So it's important this goes as smooth as possible. If he does go to the dorms he has to find and start treatment with a whole different treatment team. He doesn't do well with change, even good change. So he has to be 1000% on board.

 

1 hour ago, Miguelsmom said:

No he does not. Maybe he'll surprise me. He sucks at self advocating it's like pulling teeth to find out what he wants and he doesn't know what he needs. I'll look deeper into the requirements and have him ask. 

Miguelsmom- I am not trying to be negative but you have stated alot of things in this thread that have alarmed me a bit. I know you are trying very hard to make this smooth sailing for your ds but it is just impossible for you to do that. He will have things that won't go his way. He will have to take classes he doesn't like. They very well might be harder than what he has had at cc (it is not a super easy school even though I said the honors classes aren't hard). My ds lived on campus last year and had a terrible roommate situation. The food was awful and the cafeterias had long lines and the meal plan is expensive. I like the school alot and they are pretty committed to student success and getting students graduated. I have much more favorable opinion of it than I do our state flagship but it is still a huge school in an urban area. It has alot of the issues you will have with any large university and a student going to a big school like that has to be ready to advocate for himself. I see parents in the FB parent group complaining that they won't even talk to them about their student's financial aid because of privacy. 

I'm not trying to be negative. I have recommended the school to other people and I believe the school provides alot of bang for the buck and is pretty generous with scholarships and financial aid. The school has been good for my ds but he has had alot of ups and downs and I worry about him handling everything even though he does a pretty good job. My son's situation is not nearly as complicated as yours, and it still hasn't been all smooth. 

I really wish the best for your ds. I just had these comments you have made nagging at me and felt compelled to speak up. Your ds is obviously a very good student with a big heart.

[daijobu]

 

2 hours ago, Chris in VA said:

Just want to say, does he understand how very little adjunct profs make? Dh was an adjunct at SMU in Dallas and made 3K a class. No benefits. None at all. Is your son planning on working as an adjunct AND adding a second job? 

 

I can top that.  DH teaches a class at a local university as a volunteer.  He does it to stay in the industry after he retired, advise new entrepreneurs, and network.  And it's fun for him.  

So yeah, no money, no benefits, except the intangibles described above.  

[Miguelsmom]

I know it's impossible for everything to go smooth and I'm okay with that. I'm not going to be there to advocate for him as an adult and I'm good with that. I hope he has challenging classes. I'm paying for him to learn and to be honest CC is too easy for him. I want him to learn to handle conflict living with someone else. We know he'll take classes he doesn't like but we've reduced that with picking the best degree for him. He had to take classes he didn't like at CC too. I have not called the school myself but I have told him to call/email to ask x. I'm really not a hovering parent.

I don't want him to get so overwhelmed he doesn't see a way out. I don't want him to leave his treatment team without good support  and the idea that he'll have to pay $150+/month for the next 10 yrs kinda gets to me.  Like someone said he can try for a semester taking 17 credits and drop down. 

[RootAnn]

I am not a Bright Futures expert - at all. But I think BF is renewable as long as you stay full time (12 credits). The trick is you can't drop classes after the add/drop date or you have to repay BF for the class. There are rules about withdrawal from a class, going below the number of credits attempted, and how many hours you can get upon renewal. Just check the rules carefully before signing up for extra credits & expecting to drop down. There may be a very small window for that.

[8filltheheart]

Have you met with the disabilities office? Is there any on-campus support specifically for autistics? Some schools do have groups on-campus that will help them advocate for themselves.

How self-aware is  your ds? Ours isn't. Learning to room with someone else in a dorm room would have been totally unfair to the other person. Our ds has no sense of personal space, noise, sleep/awake patterns, etc. If a dorm has a separate bedroom it would have been ok, but a single bedroom with no separate common space would be really hard on a roommate living with him bc he wouldn't respect their sleeping  by being quiet, lights off, etc. He definitely puts his needs at "I have to" level all the time.

Our ds is very difficult to help. I will say that utilizing the DRS in the various states we have lived since he turned 18 has been very helpful (some state's Dept of Rehabilitative Services are better than others.)  As an adult autistic,  he qualifies for all sorts of services (some he will use; some he refuses to.) For example, he qualifies for disabled busing bc he refuses to learn how to drive. (He refuses this service, too.) He will use their job placement services, etc. Companies that hire through DRS receive tax breaks. Ds could have a job coach if he needed one, etc.

I hope things go smoothly for your ds.  It is a lot of simultaneous changes and pressure. My ds's anxiety cripples him when he is overwhelmed. None of the scenarios you have listed would lead to high level functioning for our ds bc there is too much to juggle on his own. He needs a lot of behind the scenes support to function.But anxiety his worst comorbidity. Your ds sounds like he may be much higher functioning independently. Just the busing alone you have described would cause our ds to shut down.

 

[Miguelsmom]

He wants no help from the disabilities office. I'm going to have him fill out the paperwork and go talk to them in person. There are single dorms but they're way more expensive and not in the halls he wants. Which sounds like he's being picky but he's trying to be courteous.  I'm going to see what the disabilities office can offer. Can I ask what services the disabilities office has for your son?

My son has built a series of rules in his head. He will only use his room to sleep. So he wants the smallest room with a roommate. He actually wants a roommate.  I have my doubts he'll be a good roommate. 

[catz]

 

Given the info you've give OP, I wouldn't be excited to spend that extra money/incur debt and I'd be hesitant to send a young man with those struggles into a dorm situation right away.  My kid doesn't have any diagnosis but is gifted quirky and definitely has had sensory issues and he really does not appreciate dorm life at all.  He is seeing kids struggle all around him.  My kid has had to be very forward and proactive with self advocacy having a roommate.  A fair number of young adults don't have the self awareness to know when they aren't being courteous.  I'd also be tentative about his desire not to have services involved from get go.  It's much easier to have options in place up front and not need to use them than to go in without having talked to that office and need to advocate for them later.  

Also, if he is considering grad school any additional debt he carries for undergrad will be less options for grad school.  I do agree he will want to be fostering relationships with faculty but if most of his degree programs are offered online locally, that is probably something your local schools are seeing.  

[Lawyer&Mom]

I’d use any extra money for a single room over an honors college any day of the week.  Having my own room made such a difference in dorm life.  (I did two years with roommates, one year without.  I didn’t know I was Autistic.)  I don’t think I was a bad roommate, but I was very sensitive to my roommates being in the room.  Made it hard to relax/shut out the world.  Which sometimes you really need in college.  I would also look for a dorm close to campus.  I really need to be able to retreat to my own space during the day, it’s hard for me to have the Executive Functioning to study on campus.  (What books do I need?  Where should I go? Etc.)  Law School I actually lived across the street and it made everything more manageable. 

[G5052]

On 2/5/2020 at 11:22 AM, regentrude said:

I cannot see how being in an honors college will make much of a difference if he intends to go to graduate school. His time and resources will be better spent on the factors that affect graduate school admission:

• doing undergraduate research,
• doing summer research, possibly at a different institution
• studying to perform well on the GRE 
• cultivating relationships with professors and research supervisors to obtain outstanding letters of recommendation

The plan to do school mostly online, however, will make some of these very difficult. I would seriously rethink that. 

 

I agree. When I had my graduate school interview, honors wouldn't have made any difference. They looked at where I went to school, my grades in detail (particularly in certain classes), my GRE scores, and asked about my relationship with my references. At that school, they then called those references. 

I'm a 3/4 time professor at a community college which is just a little better than an adjunct. It means that I'm scheduled year-round for the maximum number of classes a part-timer can teach. Zero paid benefits. When they hire full-time professors at my current school, they want work experience. I might have a shot at the previous school I worked for if they reopen the program in the area I teach in like they say they are, but who knows when they might do that. They were going to build a new STEM building and bring that back, but they haven't even broken ground yet. 

Also keep in mind that even at community colleges I've taught at, professors are expected to have an active professional life speaking at conferences, collaborating on textbooks, sitting on statewide curriculum committees, etc. etc. I've done some of that myself. So it's not just teaching. 

[BookwormTo2]

@Miguelsmom Has your DS looked at job postings to see what’s required for his career of interest? Another suggestion is check out the Pathways program for federal government jobs.

@teachermom2834 We are looking at USF for DD, and like it but the food available on campus seems a notch below what is offered at the state flagship. The Honors program at USF seems like a huge advantage.

[BookwormTo2]

Duplicate post due to slow wifi. 😞

Edited February 8, 2020 by BookwormTo2
Duplicate post.

[BookwormTo2]

Duplicate post due to slow wifi. Sorry!

Edited February 8, 2020 by BookwormTo2
Oops duplicate post.

[teachermom2834]

1 hour ago, BookwormTo2 said:

 

@teachermom2834 We are looking at USF for DD, and like it but the food available on campus seems a notch below what is offered at the state flagship. The Honors program at USF seems like a huge advantage.

My ds never complained about the food but he is not really a complainer and not a healthy eater. He would have been okay eating burgers/chicken sandwiches/pizza every day (as sad as I am to say that). I do see constant complaints on the parents FB page. My ds said it was fine, just that he got sick of it. He started cooking occasionally in the kitchen in the common room of his dorm. He is off campus this year and cooks some in his apartment and grabs food out sometimes but what he is spending to do that is still less than the required meal plan and he is much happier with that control of what he is eating/spending. He had a bad roommate situation as well so he is much happier off campus.

I do like the honors college at USF. There is more to it than at alot of schools and if you actually take advantage of all there is to offer it is worth it. My ds isn't a joiner and doesn't want to do the extra stuff so he didn't get full advantage of it. Still, the priority registration has been helpful for sure. 

[Miguelsmom]

We're just going to go there. Talk to Financial aid, talk to his program adviser, the honors college, and the disability office. I'm getting shut down because I'm mom. We're going to have him clep his only in-person class, if he doesn't do honors. He's interested in doing honors because he'll be come fluent in 1 language or knowledgeable in 2 languages. He gets smaller classes (which doesn't matter if he goes online). He wants to build relationships with professors. All his IRL classes have been 97 or higher but he has unknowingly offended some online teachers which have affected his grade in some cases. So we're still working on e-mail/business etiquette.   If he does on campus It'll be 2x a week so if need be he can come home for 3-4 days a week if he needs

3 hours ago, G5052 said:

collaborating on textbooks

. He wants to create textbooks too but release them openly. So I count that as a hobby. Basically my son wants to be a professional volunteer/ low pay for educating low income adults but at the same time he likes the reward of money. So I don't know. That's why I'm having difficulty with paying extra.  

3 hours ago, G5052 said:

Also keep in mind that even at community colleges I've taught at, professors are expected to have an active professional life speaking at conferences, collaborating on textbooks, sitting on statewide curriculum committees, etc. etc. I've done some of that myself. So it's not just teaching. 

I'll tell him. He plans to work hard and keep up with technology. He doesn't think it's a simple job or that it's less hours.

1 hour ago, BookwormTo2 said:

Has your DS looked at job postings to see what’s required for his career of interest?

Yes that's why he wants a masters. If he was just going into the work force a bachelors is enough to start a career.

2 hours ago, BookwormTo2 said:

Another suggestion is check out the Pathways program for federal government jobs.

. I'll have him look into it. Thanks.

[8filltheheart]

24 minutes ago, Miguelsmom said:

He's interested in doing honors because he'll be come fluent in 1 language or knowledgeable in 2 languages

Is he thinking in terms of foreign lang or computer lang?  If foreign language, that is an unrealistic expectaction.  Fluency takes immersion or yrs of study.  Knowledgeable?  4 semesters of college foreign language will not lead to much of anywhere unless it is actively pursued and maintained outside of classes.   

[Angie in VA]

You are getting great advice here. Perhaps future/other readers of this thread will benefit more from my post than you will, OP. Sorry, but I want to add my thoughts. 

It was a LOT of extra work but it was helpful for my dc who got the honors degree. This child had a demanding major w/ or w/o the honors program (requiring well >120 credit hours). Here were the benefits:

• more money given by the school for being an honors student
• small classes with discussions w/ prof and other students
• rapport and relationships w/ profs built
• required honors thesis (great prep for grad school thesis)
• early registration

I'm sure there were drawbacks, but the benefits outweighed them. It was the right decision for that child at that school at that time. Full disclosure: this child did continue to grad school and succeeded there too. Oh, that I could take any credit for any of that child's success, but, alas, I can not. 

[Miguelsmom]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

If foreign language, that is an unrealistic expectaction

It is unrealistic but he has opportunities to practice outside classes and opportunities to travel. He wants to use it as a jumping off point. I told him to take it at CC during the summer. He doesn't like that idea. He already has the required 2 years at high school level but he really didn't learn anything and still made good grades. I have no doubt he can become fluent with or without the 2 years of in class work. 

[Frances]

13 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

We're just going to go there. Talk to Financial aid, talk to his program adviser, the honors college, and the disability office. I'm getting shut down because I'm mom. We're going to have him clep his only in-person class, if he doesn't do honors. He's interested in doing honors because he'll be come fluent in 1 language or knowledgeable in 2 languages. He gets smaller classes (which doesn't matter if he goes online). He wants to build relationships with professors. All his IRL classes have been 97 or higher but he has unknowingly offended some online teachers which have affected his grade in some cases. So we're still working on e-mail/business etiquette.   If he does on campus It'll be 2x a week so if need be he can come home for 3-4 days a week if he needs

. He wants to create textbooks too but release them openly. So I count that as a hobby. Basically my son wants to be a professional volunteer/ low pay for educating low income adults but at the same time he likes the reward of money. So I don't know. That's why I'm having difficulty with paying extra.  

I'll tell him. He plans to work hard and keep up with technology. He doesn't think it's a simple job or that it's less hours.

Yes that's why he wants a masters. If he was just going into the work force a bachelors is enough to start a career.

. I'll have him look into it. Thanks.

It’s great he wants to help and teach others, but he might be better off working full time in his profession and volunteering in his spare time to teach others and write textbooks or being an adjunct while working full time. I’d be worried that going directly into the type of work he is thinking of after a technical Master’s degree, rather than actually using his degree to gain technical work experience might close some doors that would be hard to open again later without more education. While building up applied work experience while being an adjunct or volunteer and pursuing FT teaching positions with benefits would leave a wide range of options open. And while being willing to live on little money is commendable, things like paid or low cost health insurance and other benefits can become very important.

I certainly can understand wanting to build relationships with professors, as that is often one if the best parts of college for some students. It certainly was for myself, my husband, and my son. And that alone might be worth giving the honors college a try for one semester to see if it as he hopes it will be, since it seems like he can do that while still living at home. And it appears his online major classes will not provide those opportunities at all. 

But I’m with 8FillTheHeart on college foreign language classes. I think he will be quite disappointed in the outcome if his goal is fluency or even very knowledgeable, especially when it comes to speaking and understanding, unless he invests a significant amount of time outside of class with native or other fluent speakers. I aced two years of rigorous college Spanish classes taught entirely in Spanish, but could barely speak or understand the language, although my reading and writing were pretty good. On the other hand, we used non traditional methods for my son to learn Spanish, and his speaking and comprehension abilities far exceeded mine after less than a year. My son’s honors college also required two years of college foreign language, even for those pursuing a BS degree, but he was very happy that he was able to CLEP out of the requirement, as his STEM major courses, research, and rigorous reading, writing, and discussion intensive humanities honors college classes were more than enough to keep him busy. He later learned German while living in Germany and has been able to maintain and improve his Spanish by living with native speakers.

[Lawyer&Mom]

As a former foreign language major, the two year college foreign language series will give you a great foundation, but you still have to build the house yourself!  (This means extra work during the classes and after you finish the classes if you want to reach even just a solid intermediate level.) The good news is that the internet has made it so much easier to access native content, buy advanced grammar books, compare notes with other language learners etc.  I wouldn’t discourage college language classes, but they are just the starting point in learning a foreign language. 

[Miguelsmom]

Frances after reading your post to him he's more determined to go. He wants to start with a 0 credit research project next semester if he can. He says he has no problem working in the field and volunteering and writing textbooks until a FT position opens up. As for foreign language I don't see him budging which is really where the extra time comes into play. I'm trying to look at this like it's once in a lifetime opportunity but I'm not thrilled with more debt on him then I can cover if he gets in a jam.

[8filltheheart]

5 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

Frances after reading your post to him he's more determined to go. He wants to start with a 0 credit research project next semester if he can. He says he has no problem working in the field and volunteering and writing textbooks until a FT position opens up. As for foreign language I don't see him budging which is really where the extra time comes into play. I'm trying to look at this like it's once in a lifetime opportunity but I'm not thrilled with more debt on him then I can cover if he gets in a jam.

I can sympathize for how difficult it can be to discuss logical outcomes with a "heels dug in," not listening to alternative perspectives Aspie, but there is no way foreign language is worth paying for the extra semesters, especially when he is refusing to take a language during the summer.  Fluency takes effort and time.  (My dd is a foreign language major, studied intensely for 4 yrs during high school, and is a college jr in the language and she still is very far from fluent.  It is going to take full immersion for her to get to that point and she is driven toward fluency.)

This thread flows like a spiraling conversation with our ds.  It is jumping all over the place without any way to follow the logic.  If money is a serious issue, foreign language and honors classes in some gen eds are not going to make any real impact on his long-term objectives and employability or on his becoming fluent in a language. 

If letting him experience living on campus and taking classes in person are what you want for him and are willing to pay for, then you should and none of the other stuff matters. I would not try figuring out a way to justify it.  I would simply make the decision that it is worth it to you for him and not look back.  You don't need to justify it to anyone other than your family. 

[City Mouse]

Here is a different thought. Why can’t he commute? I drove an hour each way 5 days per week to a big university for 3 years. I even had an on campus job. It did mean that I was gone from home for like 12 hours each day, but it didn’t bother me at the time.

[Miguelsmom]

We're looking at commuting but the cost is around the same per year but that is an option.

[Lanny]

RE: Foreign Language

My DD applied for the NSLI-Y program and she was a semi-finalist or finalist. She applied for a short-term (Summer only) program.  https://www.nsliforyouth.org/

That might be something for the DS of the OP.  However, I remember the long forms about medical conditions and issues and I wonder if they would accept him.  The forms DD filled out, including Vaccination records, were very helpful with the papers she eventually needed to complete for the university she is attending, but I remember it was a lot of work. 

She did a  long phone interview with a woman who had been on a Summer only program similar to the one my DD was applying for.

Among the advantages of NSLI-Y are the facts that the government pays for it and that it is total immersion. If my memory is correct, they have programs as long as one school year.

Very concerning, reading many of the posts in this thread, about how he is going to support himself. IMO he should prepare for a career where there are lots of job openings available when one receives the undergraduate degree.

Much good luck to him!

[Miguelsmom]

Lanny Thank-you, he's looking at the program now. 

[Lanny]

3 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

Lanny Thank-you, he's looking at the program now. 

You are very welcome. That is one of the things that kept my DD extra-busy in high school. I tell her, "if you are interested, you should apply, because if you do not apply, it will never happen".  That involved her filling out a lot of applications and writing a lot of essays, for different programs...

I believe that her university (UNC) had a program like NSLI-Y mentioned on their home pagem a month or so ago. I think I sent her the link for her to check it out.

The Foreign Language fluency your DS would like to have would probably require years of total immersion. It isn't impossible to achieve that, but it is a long-time thing. Possibly if he was teaching or working all day long in an environment where English is not spoken, he would gain that fluency over time.

If this is the thread where the Major is from an Online degree  program, in some kind of Web Development technology, I am extremely concerned about the potential for obsolescence of that technology, in the very near future. It isn't good to put all of one's eggs into one basket and is IMO better to be better prepared and more of a "Generalist" and able to do different kinds of tasks that employers need people to do and are willing to pay them to do those tasks.

I am trying, as are others who have replied to this thread, to be a "Devils Advocate" and would like to encourage the OP to try (easier said than done) to get her DS to be more flexible about what he is willing to do.

I would like for him to be successful in life and with the limitations he is clinging to now, that will be much more difficult for him to achieve.

I worked with a young man who had a B.S.E.E. degree. He had Dyslexia.  Did he have issues with the work at times, needing to get what he wrote edited by someone else? Yes. Was he a good Engineer? Yes he was.

In the case of the DS of the OP, there are issues other than Dyslexia, but, hopefully, if they are tackled one at a time and do not flare up simultaneously, he will be OK.

I am concerned about the SUPPORT TEAM he will, or, will not, have at the school he eventually attends. I believe that should be an extremely high priority, if not the #1 priority for him.  

The goal is for him to be successful and that is a tough goal for him to achieve, if he isn't flexible with what he is or is not willing to do.

Much good luck to him!

[Miguelsmom]

We're talking about keeping his current treatment team and coming back every 2 weeks to see them. Yes it's web technologies. He also knows java. He's willing to learn other programming languages but doesn't want to do computer science. Plus he has basic graphic design skills. 

[Miguelsmom]

Quote

Why not computer science? That’s the standard degree for programming work.

He doesn't want to take up through calc 3 and sciences. He'd rather take more web development classes.

[Lanny]

OP if the Honors College would not increase the cost of attendance, or, the length of attendance, there can be, if one is lucky, opportunities for courses taught by a Ph.D.  IMO, if it is not FREE, there's no way I would recommend to you that your DS spend the extra time and $ to do that.

My DD has a course now (C.S. Honors) taught by a an Instructor with a Ph.D. and many years of experience. There are 24 students in the course. For a Freshman Undergraduate student, IMO, that's a Blessing from God.

[Lanny]

@OP please read what square_25 wrote on 24 February.  I too believe the path your DS wants to take it not going to result in job opportunities for him. As I recall he is interested in Web Development.   If my DD should decide on C.S. I will encourage her, but if she were to be interested in something so limiting as Web Development, I would discourage her from following what I believe is a "dead end".  One doesn't need a university degree to do web development. 

IMO if your DS goes for a degree, it should be in a school where they have a track record for placing graduates in industry.

[Miguelsmom]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:38 PM, square_25 said:

Have you researched if this is actually a feasible career path?

There is several jobs for web development that requires a bachelors but he wants to go up to an masters for information architect and teach. He's fine with a regular web development job but really wants to help remote areas of the country by teaching web development. It's not "standard" programming which is the "problem" CS degrees don't teach web programs.  it's not the same thing.

 

On 3/2/2020 at 10:56 AM, Lanny said:

One doesn't need a university degree to do web development.

All jobs in this area seem to require a bachelors degree. 

 

 So currently he has chose not to do honors but to live on campus. So the money is still an issue but the extra time and honors classes is not an issue anymore. 

[Miguelsmom]

He has volunteered teaching and he would like to tutor when away at college. There's a small space for web development teachers, He would have to do grant writing too, Web developer is realistic. Teaching remote areas these skills depends. 

[Miguelsmom]

He did a 180 this week. He's decided to (most likely) go to our local college. Maybe their honors college. We're talking to his adviser tomorrow again.  His new plan will take 2.5 years and prepare him for a masters in computer science if all goes right. I think in the end with the virus, giving his treatment team up, giving up friends, and all the change stressed him out. There will be no extra loans or anything because he will be living at home. He's been very vague on the why he made such a sharp change but we're supporting his decision. 

[Lanny]

Miguelsmom that is GOOD news!      If with time, he tells you why he made the change, that's fine, but don't ask him. Good luck to him!

[Miguelsmom]

My parents are less then pleased and showing it.

[Lanny]

@Miguelsmom In my email this morning, was one from Coursera (MOOC courses) highlighting a number of courses, including how to play the Guitar. This one was among the courses in that email and immediately I thought of your DS. UMichigan is a TOP school and I assume their courses are top quality. Possibly of interest to your DS.  Here's the URL: 

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/web-design?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketing&utm_campaign=x9BEcHnoEeqd_xFKDENJkw

[Miguelsmom]

Lanny Thank-you

[Lanny]

1 hour ago, Miguelsmom said:

Lanny Thank-you

 

You are welcome. I believe they send out those emails about classes starting on the day the classes begin, so people can enroll. I also believe their most popular courses begin frequently (every month or so?)

Now, more than ever, more than when you began posting about him a few months ago, IMO it is more important that people have "their feet on the ground" with regard to the possibility of getting a job.  I'm sad this happened when  my DD is in her Freshman year, however, I am THANKFUL that she is not a Senior now and looking for a job for after her graduation.

Sorry about your parents reaction. If they are supportive of your DS, that will help him. Much good luck to him!