He has never said anything about gaming. He loves to draw and create. He wants to have a career in some artistic vein. People kept telling him it was a pipe dream, but if he is going to go to school, it has to be for something he wants to do. I figure, he has to take general classes now, he may change his mind as far as goals. But, if I had pushed him into business, he would resent it and not work as hard. He wants to be a success, but be happy also. :)
Don’t push him into anything.
Make sure he has a reasonable backup plan.
The only places I know of where computer animators find work is in games, movies and TV (media in general).
He can get a taste for the work by modding a game or two. Computer animation is very tedious at worst and isn’t for everyone. He should start by ‘skinning’ a game character which is about the most basic task in this scope.
Free to download tools include Blender (for 3d models, competing with commercial packages 3dStudioMax and Maya) and GIMP (a photo shop ‘competitor’) (forums for these tools will lead him to more tools and examples).
It would suck for him to spend 2 years on a subject only to find it bores him.
Many of his classmates will be game modders.