First if all he'll have to bust his chops this day in age a 2.5 average in engineering will land you at McDonalds. Then if should work hard enough to get 3.0 or better he'll get a job making the going rate for fresh outs somewhere around 30 - 50K. He will work 60 hours per week there after and should save his money for graduate school an advanced degree is required for whatever he chooses to do next (management lawyer doctor) he will not be able to remain an engineer his whole life. At some point his salary will equal the cost of 2 foreign engineers and he will either stagnate salary wise or be laid off.
The better route: pick any major you will excel at (I mean get A's in your sleep kind of excel). If that's acting so be it. Then go to a top post-bacc program to get your pre-med requirements, nail the MCAT. Then go to medical school and get a combined MD-MBA. Then go into upper managment in an HMO or biotech company.
Fine- sounds good. Warn our kids off of taking the "hard" classes like engineering. So this increases the shortage of engineers, forcing us to import more engineering talent from overseas. 30 - 50 grand starting salary with full benefits is darn attractive to lots of folks who have no opportunity in their home countries. Hey, I have a full-time state job paying about 30 grand- and I'm still going to school nights to get an engineering degree. Not for the money- but because I really want to do engineering. I have a job lined up as soon as I have my A. S., and the company will pay for me to get my batchelor's.
I can't believe someone on FR is advising children to go for the "easy money" instead of doing something worthwile.
By all means, have the kids sell out and go be "money men" managers. After all, compared to a six-figure salary, one's concience and personal honor are small sacrifices to make.
Woof!! You nailed that one, outta da' park.
Engineering simply isn't worth the hassle, there is no job security, there is no long term incentive. As you indicated, you either become a top-hitter in your profession; or you are laid off in favor of hiring 2 H1-B engineers. Once you make it to the top-hitter position; you will be beat up daily, just to make sure that you remain consistently worth more than 2 H1B's. It's simply not worth it; and I'm in the lower 6-figures. If I had the same time/talent and applied it to just about any other field; I'd be working fewer hours, far less stress, and earning double what I am now.
I'm an engineer with a security clearance and a salary that's a line item in the congressional budget. That's another option. Very few foreign nationals in these kinda jobs.