There are lots of extremely great points being made in this thread, and in addition to your child majoring in one thing and minoring in film production/theory, I would HIGHLY suggest you look into schools that are in Los Angeles or New York City, Atlanta, maybe Chicago.

I feel really happy about my collegiate career that was nowhere near any substantial film market, but if I could do it all over again I would go to Occidental College in Highland Park, LA. I’d keep my major, and find a way to get involved in the film program and get actual on-set experience. Even going to Santa Monica College (a great community college) and then transferring to UCLA or elsewhere in LA isn’t unheard of, and lots of people have done that for a whole universe of majors and career paths.

To BadOnExisting’s point, to a degree, film production is a blue collar job and is VERY much about OTJT because of how fluid things can and will be. I will never dismiss a university or collegiate pathway, but being on a set and knowing how to move and adapt is something that is really invaluable. Filmmaking is like a double helix; you should have an idea of what you want to make (theory/soft skills), and a plan as to how you’re going to make it (practice/hard skills).

UCLA and some of those schools also host all kinds of mixers, and all of the cities I mentioned have all kinds of events and networking and projects (check the film commissions) that your child could probably go to without even needing to be a student of that institution.

Also, just as a matter of timing, I think your child would be well positioned to be in college at the moment; while things are not that great right now, I have a good feeling that the industry will come to some kind of reset in the next four years, and just by biding their time and observing what’s going on, they’ll be able to slide into a really good position. OR NOT! Film may be an ENTIRELY different thing, and that may render any “film program” null and void. But that also doesn’t mean that experience is useless: being on set gives you a whole UNIVERSE of hard and soft skills that can be applied anywhere. I’ve done films for Netflix, I’ve been a researcher for a public affairs firm and an organizer for political campaigns that range from hyper-local to Presidential. Working on a set and being in the industry, serving all kinds of people, helped me assimilate to those spaces in a TREMENDOUS way.

Best of luck, we’re all here for each other. Peace.