@lb43823 and @xraymancs Thanks for the input! I told him about the program and he’s actually pretty interested! He is reasonably happy to go to the U of Richmond (it’s a nice place and they gave him an incredible offer) but his concern was that they are not tops in CS and he had really hoped for Stanford or an Ivy League school (like tons of other kids on this forum!). If he was to take this path, stick with it, and complete the program, he’d end up with a masters degree from Columbia! Not too shabby! 
We are going to visit U of Richmond next week, and we already planned to spend most of the time talking to the CS department. We will definitely be asking them about this program. It sounds like students have to plan their classes and schedules carefully, as well as keep their grades high, but I think it’s very achievable, if this is what he really wants. So glad to have found out about this!