My boyfriend is really unhappy in college...

[bitesize]

He's doing a five-year-course that he picked when he was eighteen, and a year or so ago decided he didn't want a career in, but decided to stick it out anyway til the end of college. It's a hugely intense course with an insane amount of work that takes up most of his time.

Last year he failed an exam and had to repeat a year - so now he's in a new year with classmates he doesn't know very well and he admitted to me the other night how lonely he is, which breaks me heart. He hates doing this course that he's no longer passionate about but he's determined to stick it out until 2015.

He's so unhappy and I hate it. He's under a lot of stress to try and pass all his Christmas exams and feels guilty when he's not studying - he can't relax when he's not working. Between our respective college courses and my job we have hardly any time to see each other and I don't know how to be there for him. He won't even take the night off study on his birthday next week. :/

This week his famiy were away so we got a little extra time together and it was so good to see him relax for a while, but I hate hearing about how lonely he is and how much stress he's under. Is there anything I can do to help him??

[JustACityBoy]

Well speaking from experience, cause this kind of sounds like my case,

1) I guess what I think he'd want most is just one close friend (or yourself) to actually be in the college with him or live with him somehow.
That seems basically impossible.

2) I'd be happy too if I knew there was something shiny that I could keep for a long time at the end of the road.

3) making the entire school years better, working on hobbies, getting new hobbies, getting gifts to support or try out new hobbies, or really, it would be fucking awesome if whenever I get stuck on a question my teacher teleports to me and helps me.

So helping him on hard stuff homework is good, giving him hobby-related gifts, or inspiring him to a new hobby he likes.
Difficult classes where I genuinely have no idea how to solve a related problem makes me give up alot.