<p>FERPA release is in place. Issues are not related to drugs/alcohol, in fact somehwat the opposite. He felt outcast at times because he’s just not into the party scene.</p>
<p>We (and he) know what the issues are: adjustment. He grew up on a US military base school overseas from the age of 6. Suddenly going to the States and into college (as a student-athlete) comes with its own unique challenges. These kids are not ‘foreign’, but they also have little idea what their homegrown peers are really like. They are socio-geographic ‘tweeners, and this has caused the majority of the issues. The truly international students have their own support system, and of course the homegrown kids are mainly on the same page and have each other, or parents a few hours’ flight (or ten minute drive) away. We saw our son at Christmas and now we will see him again, finally, in about three hours when we head out to the airport after his 19 hours of flying!). </p>
<p>He just got blown away by it all, just no idea what to expect, but has made progress towards understanding what it really takes to ‘be there’, and to thrive, in the past 1/2 semester - too late to really slavage his GPA, but not too late to show that he can do this. </p>
<p>We will certainly take all the great advice offered here, let him know what he needs to do in situation X or situation Y, and hope for the best.</p>