I guess since I'm going to school at DigiPen in hopes of entering the game industry I should throw my two cents into this.
Dear the mother of the aspiring Game Designer,
Here is a list of facts about the video game industry that I think everyone should know:
1. Most of the time game programmers and computer science majors only stay in the game industry about 5 years. The game industry proves to be very stressful compared to others, as well as less profitable. (Often employees will going into weeks of "crunch" time and be heavily over worked.
2. A little know fact about Game Designers, you don't get to design a game ground up (in other words, you will not be making your dream game anytime soon). What happens is the Producer and the Marketing Team throw you a pitch, and you design the implementation. Also, your implementation techniques can be revoked by the Producer.
3. No one just "becomes" a game designer out of college. There is no miracle degree for this, designing games can be learned, but not unlike art, you still have it or you don't.
4. You will need to choose between the tech side and the art side. If you pick the art side, expect a hell of a job market. The tech side however, can open a lot of doors and is more likely to actually lead to Game Design.
5. Don't by into B.S. (and I mean bull ****) Game Design degrees from colleges you never heard of, do research and figure out where you want to go). Personally, the best in the industry are supposedly DigiPen and Full Sail. However, it's not impossible to do it some other way.
6. Scholarships are really hard to find for this stuff and you need to have nice grades. Definitely not getting better as the economy worsens.
7. Learn to make games now. There are lots of ways to do this. Learn flash/action script and make games, use the torque engine etc. These are relatively free/cheap ways to get started, but they will pay off because your son will find out if he's really enjoying himself. Also DigiPen offers summer workshops that can help out too.
8. Best of luck, dedication and passion is your best bet.