He doesn't have a more honest answer than a shrug, these days, so a shrug is what he gives her. "Dunno," he adds. "Life messed things up a bit, ya know? Just tryna get through some bio, now." His end goal is way closer that it once was; finish homework is about the extend of it. It's hard to picture what that homework might turn into, one day.
Even if Merlin did see him at college. Right now, that future? Way, way too far in the distance to have faith in.