I remember that story.
FWIW, mine played at a pretty big baseball progam and he was not encouraged to take engineering. Tha'ts just the way it is because, reality is, that in the larger programs, in the larger conferences, you are there for two reasons, get an education and play and be expected to remain eligible to play.
But you are given choices, in other words, if son wanted to major in engineering he would not have attended that program. I dont think that most really understand how difficult it is playing a sport and mainly eligibility at the same time. My comment was not made to be condescending but rather that after your son attends college you might understand it a bit better.
Returning after being away for 8 seasons, the program where son will be attending has a fund set up to help former athletic scholarship athletes in any sport to return to get their degree. You will find in most programs, they encourage the athlete to return for their degree.
But when you hear about the money that is made by the NCAA in some of these sports and the salaries made by the coaching staff, well it just blows my mind.
Remember the Olympics of years ago, professional players were not allowed to participate?
Things change, the NCAA has to make some adjustments.