<p>Thank you all for your suggestions and support. I'm realizing that there are two separate issues - one is my child possibly taking some steps seem questionnable at best and the other is my own feelings of helplessness vis-a-vis his process. I agree with you, Mini, that I need to find a way to chill. Jjmom and cangel, one of the things that worries me is that he has a history of getting very excited, even passionate about new ventures especially at the very beginning and then rapidly losing interest once the novelty wears off. He actually loved school and his new friends the first month and then started becoming dissatisfied when the honeymoon was over. (My best guess is homesickness started kicking in.) So of course I worry about him continuing along these lines, but maybe that's a course he has to take. I think I have some sense of the rich, white kids issue especially at LACs, but in this case I think it's more a smoke screen for missing the very close relationships he has with the friends he grew up with, because they could all easily be called spoiled, white, rich (or at least middle class) kids. And, cangel, my husband and I have already agreed that the parental money tree sheds its leaves only for what we consider legitimate educational experiences. Again my appreciation for your help and being there.</p>