It's not the money so much as the time he wasted, taking and failing courses without even trying... but when we finally did talk about it, it was obvious he was carrying a lot of shame and not wanting to disappoint me.
Anyway, he can go back later, probably without having to repeat much... this happens a lot in engineering schools, maybe he just needs a gap year or two.

It's going to be a busy time... I was last in Berlin in 1989, as I said, and I can hardly imagine it now.