College admissions is very complicated and without more information about what his application/resume would look like I’m not sure any advice would be too useful. One thing he could try is preparing for and taking the SAT I to see if he can get a competitive score. Also, lots of people go to community colleges, perform very well, and then transfer to four-year institutions (especially state schools). With only a GED and < 2.0 GPA in one semester he’ll probably need a good SAT score to get going again. If he can’t get into a four-year institution, it would seriously be worth his while to go to a community college and then try to transfer from there after earning good grades.