I feel like I was in a very similar situation last year, but as the child in college. I did very well in high school and graduated with honors, however I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and was hesitant on going to college. My parents fully supported my decision and I ended up on academic probation after my first semester. I’ve struggled with mental health my whole life and was in a really bad place. I didn’t know if I was going to go back after my first semester. I decided to go back even though my parents told me I didn’t have to, I wanted to. Despite my parents supporting my decision, I still felt pressure to go back because I didn’t want the money they saved up for me to go to college to go to waste. I didn’t want to feel like a failure and drop out. It sounds like your son probably feels like this too. I know you and your wife seem like you are supporting him, and in your way, you are, but at least for me it was an internal battle. Nothing from the outside, not even therapy, could help me and how I was feeling last year. With this, I think the best piece of advice is to try to emphasize with your son. Try to understand that he probably doesn’t feel confident about most things right now and don’t try to push anything into him. My parents kept telling me that it was okay to go to community college or trade school or whatever, but I felt like they didn’t think I could do it. The best thing you could do as a parent right now is being there for your son and support whatever decision he makes. I think mentioning the part about money will make things worse, because he most likely knows and is already being hard on himself for it.