University Program Progress – From A Dad

My son is a freshman at a small university in Arkadelphia, AR pursuing a Bachelor of Science - Aviation; Professional Pilot. He entered the school with his PPL, allowing him to commence flying as a Sophomore. The school indicates at graduation in May 2028, through their track, he'll be around 280 hours.

He's not hugely social, so the college/university experience is not a big deal to him. He spends most time in his dorm trying to find the next available hole to reserve an airplane.

Since starting university in late August, and as of this writing, he's accumulated 39.2 hours (!10/month) at the university (he was at 70 going in, so around 110 total).

Now that he's there, the program track seems odd... Commercial time building first, followed by Instrument. So given where he's at, he won't be ready for Instrument checkride until his 4th semester; another 15 months from now. He'll finish Commercial right after, followed by CFI and CFII in spring of his Junior year.

The school has 7 trainers; generally only 5 in service on a regular basis; that are Maule MXT-7's, all steam. They are fun to fly, but I see challenges with the school trying to educate 180-190 kids on 5 planes. 

A degree is (was?) important to my wife and I, if only as a fall back, but now questioning if this was the right path for him.

He's home for Thanksgiving and we're visiting an accelerated collegiate aviation school to evaluate the possibility of a transfer. He could wrap up his ratings in 12 to 14 months while earning his Associates, then take their Bachelors program online while CFI'ing for the school.

By the time he reaches his current graduation date; May 2028, he'd have is Bachelor of Science in Technology Management AND somewhere around 1,300 hours, qualifying him for a 1,250 hours R-ATP.

He's focused and dedicated personality, and very self motivated. 

Am I missing something, or could the accelerated program be a more adequate path?

TLDR; Son is in university, flight progress is slow, looking to transfer to accelerated program with online degree.

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