Note that each school will have its own procedures for handling special needs cases. I'm not a kid. Part-time attendance doesn't exclude you from eligibility for federal student aid. At the graduate level, it'll be loans and maybe work-study, but no grants. It's incumbent on each school to help students determine how much debt they should take on and begin planning for repayment.
Schools can lose their eligibility for consistently high default rates.
All schools are required to provide entrance counseling for new borrowesr, and exit counseling for students leaving or graduating. When he gets out next year I know he will be able to use the veteran's bill- paying about 400 month for 36 months. That will not be enough to pay tuition and room and board. I am ready to retire and trying to see whether I will have to keep working in order to help him get through school. Your son will be considered an independent student when he gets out.