<p>I agree with the treetopleaf - the GPA, although not what you expected or anyone wanted, isn’t all that horrendous for the first year of CS and if your projection is true is on an upswing. A 2.62 would be pretty close to the average at a school with a rigorous (and harshly graded) program. </p>
<p>I caution anyone to beware of scholarships that are tied to maintaining a high GPA in an engineering/CS major and a 3.2 would be considered high. The chances of losing the scholarship are quite high when they require something as high as a 3.2 in CS. I think there are many who can actually get in over their heads if they depend on money with this kind of string attached and the colleges (if it’s from them) should be very straight up front regarding how difficult it is to keep the scholarship. They know the average GPA of engineering/CS and they know how many will lose that scholarship after the first year. Count it as found money, a bonus, for the first year but forget about it now. </p>
<p>I think you should have a frank discussion about this with your S and see what he thinks the issue is and how he’s planning to resolve the issue and find out if he wants to continue in this major. If he does, and assuming you can swing it, I think he should take the ‘D’ course over, either in the summer or during the next year, and continue on from there. I think it would be an over-reaction to do anything drastic like force him to a CC or to switch colleges at this point. His GPA isn’t as good as it could be but it isn’t as horrendous as it sounded from the opening post either. As I said before, it’s an adjustment for you and him from what he was used to in HS but that’s what happens with many in CS/engineering. Forget about the scholarship - its maintenance requirements were too stringent to begin with.</p>