yikes! tell him to just finish it.

I am compelled to be a voice of dissent here.

He has a plan and he has what sounds like a solid core group of friends. I think it sounds like a valuable life experience. And, who knows, the business could do well. Finishing an undergraduate degree is not a race (and candidly I think most students would greatly benefit from slowing down and/or taking a gap year).

I would encourage taking a class or two online per semester next year — if he is as bright as he sounds that shouldn’t be a huge time commitment and every credit counts.

In our family, they can do whatever they want, be whatever they want - after competing college

Anonymous wrote:If no one can knock sense into him then make peace with it. You don't need to oppose or support him. Let him experiment, be patient. Keep him on your health insurance, he is welcome to live and eat at home when he is in town but otherwise he needs to figure out everything else on his own because he isn't an student anymore. If he succeeds, great. If not then he'll be eligible for need based aid for college due to his poverty.

Nope. Keep him on health insurance but everything else he needs to pay for including rent.

Does his school offer classes online? Maybe you can convince him to do that instead of dropping out. Also, he could take a year off and take classes at the community college. If he plans it right with the adviser, he will not loose time/credit and will be able to transfer it to his current school.

Anonymous wrote:He's young - its only a year - and it may be a blessing that he not throw away a college semester and a lot of your money. Make him support himself - that is the best way to ensure he understands what life without a degree is like.

This. Let him make his own decisions, but don't shield him from the consequences by providing a comfortable cushion of parental cash. Otherwise he'll never make realistic decisions around his abilities, this investment opportunity he's interested in, and so on.

He's young - its only a year - and it may be a blessing that he not throw away a college semester and a lot of your money. Make him support himself - that is the best way to ensure he understands what life without a degree is like.

Only 1% of dropouts become really successful, probably 25% go back to college, rest likely struggle. In your case, keep money dedicated for college so he can enroll when he wants to but don't invest in any business freshmen dropouts are experimenting with. They can take loans and go bankrupt and bounce back. You can't go bankrupt and retire.

I dropped out of college and my parents let me be an adult since I was adult enough to make that choice. Life was hard without a college degree, no skills and no money. As soon as I could I reenrolled and graduated with the best grades of my whole academic career. Sometimes people need to learn the hard way. Or maybe your son is the next Bill Gates or Zuck. You never know.

It sounds like you have laid out all the reasons he shouldn't do it. Is he asking you for $? Otherwise, he doesn't really need your permission.

My DS dropped out of University of Minnesota in 2018 after attending one semester his freshman year and decided to join a startup in Palo Alto. As parents, it was very difficult for DW and I to accept. The first startup ran out of money in less than eight months and he left to join another startup. Fortunately, the 2nd startup was acquired by another company so DS made it out very well financially. He just started his freshman year again as a freshman at UNC majoring in business and not CS (he was a CS major at U. of Minnesota). I would say to OP that as long as your son has a solid plan moving forward, let him do it..

To be fair, college isn't for everyone and not a guarantee of a good future so dropping out is just a slightly bigger gamble than paying $200k for a degree.

I tell my kids that college is a 4 year reprieve from many of the pressures and responsibilities of adulthood. If you aren’t in college, you need to assume those responsibilities. I would certainly let a gainfully employed kid (or a kid working towards gainful employment) live at home in a high COL are like the DMV to save. But, part of being an adult is supporting yourself financially, or being on a path to do so.

Tell him you will discuss this spring and that he needs to bring a business plan and a budget where he is fully self supporting while not living at home (agree with keeping him on health insurance). He should also report his progress on securing funding from institutional investors. Also makes sure he realizes that leaving college does not mean he gets his college fund to support himself and invest in his business.

His plan doesn’t seem at all realistic unless you are supporting him and proving seed money for his business. But that’s something he probably needs to find out the hard way.

OP, maybe this: don't impede. don't promote.

He has no money. He has no where to live. You do not solve this problem for him.
OR .... he's able to live at college and eat.

But he is questioning the value in college - both money and time

But maybe when he realizes he has *NO* money at all to live on, college w/room and board may look better!