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Obviously, it is better for the funds to be in our name. I was told that once he has ownership, he can gift the ownership. The larger one he was planning on taking out 20,000 to cover the first year tuition, and transferring ownership of the balance to us; and then each year we would take out from there for his tuition. We were told by our accountant that's the only way to avoid the sale of the stocks.
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Well... I probably shouldn't say anything because I don't have any real answers... but you probably won't get too many replies from this board.

This is what comes to mind for me:

Your son can gift the funds to his parents (you) but only $10,000 per parent. Anything you receive over $10,000 is taxable.

When your son gives up the $10,000, I think he is liable for taxes on his end. Just because he doesn't sell them doesn't mean he's able to avoid taxes.

I could be wrong, but the bottom line is y'all need to figure out all these transfers and keep taxes to a minimum.