<p>Given your unusual living situation, it may be a good idea for your son to give you permission to communicate with his advisors.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say this for your typical U.S. student – who can go home, live with his parents, and attend a community college and/or get a job.</p>
<p>But your son is in an unusual situation. He can’t live with you and attend community college because you live outside the U.S. And if he lives with you, he might not be able to work if he can’t get a permit to work outside the U.S. Living on his own in the U.S. and working or attending community college might be a formidable challenge for him.</p>
<p>originaloog recommended that your son take a year off and see what the real world is like. The problem is that his particular real world is much scarier and more difficult to handle than the real world of an ordinary American student whose family lives in the United States or an ordinary international student whose family lives in the country where they are citizens. </p>
<p>Does your son have any relatives or close family friends in the United States? If he has to leave college, perhaps the best option for him would be to go live in their community (staying with them at first and later finding a place of his own or sharing an apartment with other young people), while either attending a community college or working. Being near relatives or friends whom he could go to for advice, when necessary, could be very helpful. </p>
<p>I am assuming that the other obvious option – military service – does not appeal to him. He grew up in a military environment; I figure that if he wanted to join the service, he would already have done so.</p>