Agree cinder and here's one for irony. He wanted 15 credit hrs and came out with 13. So I had to go back and assist him with another class. The woman who helped him first actually was trying to talk my son out of it! I finally chimed in and explained my son was not working his first semester due to surgery and wants to focus 100% on school. As an adult he made a committment to this first semester. She then seemed relieved.
Be careful. Sometimes administrators encourage the student to take useless classes that don't count towards their degree. This is a waste of time and money. Also, like you mentioned, they encourage the student to take a longer amount of time to get said degree. It's really crazy! They're like sales people wanting to suck the student dry of money.
I find it kinda fishy that they didn't let the parents go in...perhaps to trick the students like I just said above.
I have a cousin who went to The Art Institutes for graphic design...and now employees say his degree is worthless because that school is not accredited. The administrators told him his degree would get him a job in the field and now he's unemployed. I'm not saying the school your son goes to isn't accredited, I'm sure it is. But I'm letting you know the type of deception that goes on in colleges.
Like Cinder said, he will have plenty of alone time soon. But always keep on eye on his degree plan and the classes he's taking. I wouldn't want others to make the same mistakes I made. At 18 you may be classified as an adult, but it's still a young age when older people can easily scam you.