Designated Activities (refugee) switch to another visa?

Hello I am posting instead of my friend since he doesn't use reddit.

My friend has been here for over 5 years and it's quite the struggle to stay on the Designated Activities visa for such period, he wants to explore options to switch it to a different visa, but because he's a refugee that's also another struggle some schools rejected him because of that saying it's not possible to switch, some jobs also made it hard for him because of it.

So far he was unlucky with student or work visas, so he's not sure what he should do.

Does anyone here have a similar experience and was successful switching that they can share with us?

by ThePirateKiing