or can your son defer for a year, get some boring dead end job and save like crazy to help get through his first year/two at college? you could have extra time to get together some money for his second or final year, which will be the one he really needs to concentrate on, and this may help in gettign him classified as "independent"
cons:
has to wait a year
pros:
gets some funds
understands the value of the education because he's paying for it and he understands what working hard in a boring job is like.