Is the 3.8 weighted or unweighted?
Has he taken the ACT yet?
I don’t think NC State necessarily sounds out of reach. What are his interests? Engineering might be hard to get into (it’s a tough one), but English might not.
Has he done the Focus 2 Apply assessment? It’s just to narrow down your interests — not a test. https://admissions.ncsu.edu/discover/#majors-and-minors