<p>USMC.</p>
<p>My buddy loved to surf. He went in and got stationed at San Diego, got his degree from a school out in Cali (the name escapes me), and is now a Lt. serving with a unit out in Iraq. </p>
<p>He changed his entire outlook on life and is a wonderful person to be around.</p>
<p>University of Rhode Island is right on the beach and has an active surfing community (not all winter -- but that might not be a bad thing if you want him to get some education). Not a two-hour drive, not a 20-minute drive -- a five minute walk from the dorms.</p>
<p>Our neighbor's daughter, a girl who was mainly focused on athletics, but who does not plan to play sports on an intercollegiate level, and who barely scraped by academically at her high-powered private school, is going there in the fall, and is thrilled. The surfing was a big plus for her.</p>
<p>Of course, there's UC Santa Cruz, too, which is right near some great surfing beaches, but that is probably out of reach. Farther south, there's Pepperdine, which is just up the canyon from the Malibu beaches. There's not much about that school I like, but others love it (I have two cousins there now) and it IS beautiful and beachy.</p>
<p>I'm from San Diego, originally, and I would put in a vote for a San Diego school, like San Diego State (which has a surprisingly good business program---often bottom tier universities in really beautiful places have better than expected professors and students who come for the lifestyle), or USD. UCSD is probably out of his range, but UC Santa Barbara, especially as a transfer, is not.</p>
<p>I would suggest a different approach. If he loves surfing, then let him pursue that (at least for one summer). Let him live the surfer lifestyle: live and work on the beach in a cheap apartment in SD, eat fish tacos every day, work in a cafe or clothing store, and surf every morning. You could rent him an apartment for $1000 for two months, and have him pay for everything else with summer work. He'll get a chance to see if he really likes it, he'll have an amazing experience, and he might (just maybe) see the good and bad points and decide he wants to do something more ambitious. </p>
<p>I think this is a much better plan than sending him to college, having him skate through, and <em>then</em> spend some time on the beach and have to crawl out from underneath credit card debt with poor grad school and job prospects.</p>
<p>You could check out Monmouth University in NJ. It's nearer the North Jersey beaches, so surfing of some sort is possible. I don't think it is very competitive for admissions, but has a solid enough business program.
But I also agree with some others to gauge how much more "turned on" to college he becomes in the next year. If his motivation is still kinda low, maybe a gap year and work will be best.</p>