It seems that the prevailing thought is that community college is a good place to start with his core educational / pre-engineering courses.
I wasn't aware of the 24 year old financial aid issue. I can likely help him get through two years of community college and then let him secure his own federal education loan for whichever engineering school he attends.
I'll be sending him to the community college adviser on Monday.
At 24 and Independent, he’ll probably get more aid then just loans if he has a low income, for instance federal Pell grants and any state grants offered, here in NY we have TAP (tuition assistance program). Of course any grants he doesn’t have to pay back, and schools are given a certain amount in grants to give out, so if he didn’t get it someone else will, it’s not like he’s taking money from the gov’t they’re not already going to spend. And better spent on your conservative engineer then the major in basket weaving lesbian studies! Even if you plan on paying for community college for him, you should have him fill out the FAFSA and apply for financial aid and he might even get at least some for CC. He could also
apply to the 4 year college he’s considering down the road now and if he got need based financial aid combined with merit based (based on grades and test scores) it might work out to where the CC costs the same as starting at the 4-year school that has more of it’s own merit money to award.