IMO, the private school would be better for him because he could enter a job market a year earlier than CUNY. Plus, taking four undergrad courses sounds not fun, especially this is something that he does't need to do at the private school. As for the debt, if the difference between the private school and CUNY is less than $10K, I wouldn't think that it's too much, especially because he could start making money earlier should he go to the private school. Good luck!!