When you toss in room and board and books in with the tuition, the value of the scholarship rises pretty quickly. That's all in US dollars also, not our Northern Peso. If he signs with the Sens in early April right after the Frozen Four, and plays an NHL game, he pockets a nice signing bonus and manages to burn off a year of his entry level contract in the process. JBD has also put himself in the driver's seat somewhat with the Sens - it's now pretty urgent that he gets signed the minute his season ends next year, whereas before we all just assumed that he would play along with whatever path the organization wanted for him.
Here's another reason why this timeline works for him - if in fact the NHL resumes its season in a month or so, and plays hockey into the summer, the start of the 2020-21 season is going to be delayed. (That suits the American owners fine, as they hate the October games anyway as they fight with the NFL, World Series, etc.) That, in turn, would mean that the 2020-21 regular season likely wouldn't wrap up into mid to late April, allowing JBD to finish his NCAA and walk right into our lineup for the last few regular season games. (Oh, and cashing a nice bonus cheque in the process.)