As a former college student (graduated 2013) with multiple life threatening chronic illnesses, I personally think the rules for your daughter are slightly helicopterish. Don't get me wrong....I had rules I had to follow in relation to keeping in contact by texting once in the morning and once at night and my parents did want to know if I was sick and went to urgent care, ER, etc. but at the ER they usually called my parents and I was never alone if I had to go to the ER, especially if we had to call 911 (anaphylaxis, respiratory distress, cardiac issues, severe bleeding). But my roommates in our townhouse knew about my diagnoses, same with my sorority sisters, work, internship, disabilities service, professors, etc. enough people knew the situation that if no one at school had heard from me, or seen me at all during the day, my parents and police would have been called. But my parents knew very little about my day to day events. They knew what time I worked and what time my classes and internships were because we had to coordinate treatment and appointments which was a 2 hour drive each way from school but otherwise, they didn't know what I was doing daily. I will say though, that I don't drink. Ever. I can't. Between immunosuppressants, liver disease, and severe allergies (which we now know is systemic mastocytosis), and having had a craniotomy 10 weeks before starting school, I made the conscious decision to listen to my doctors and refrain from drinking even though I was 21 when I started school. Don't get me wrong....my parents did worry everyday, especially my first year away, but they were amazing at giving me my space to be as independent as possible and while they did of course give me advice, asked where I was going, etc., they never required it and never pushed any further than asking once. I have a very good relationship with my parents, so they did usually find out about most things eventually but on my time. And somehow, even with starting school 10 weeks post craniotomy with PT 2x week and still on pain meds, and missing about 22 weeks total of class over 3 years because of inpatient admissions and surgeries, I still graduated with 2 degrees both with honors. And my parents were not involved with my academics at all except for the summer before I started because as a transfer student, you had to register in person at transfer orientation and I physically could not go because of recovery so my mom and older brother went and took care of everything. But after that, they never had any contact with disabilities counselors, professors, academic advisors, etc. I was responsible for everything even when inpatient 2 hours away.
And honestly, I am so, so, so grateful they let me have as much independence as possible while at school because at the time, no one knew just how sick I would end up getting and now, at 26, I live at home, can't drive, can't work, can't volunteer....can't really do anything alone outside of the house because of my medical conditions. The way things are now, I never would have been able to go away to school if I had been this sick at that time. I'm on TPN, chemo, iron infusions, severely hypoglycemic, liver disease, aggressive systemic mastocytosis (averaged about 8-10 anaphylactic reactions monthly before chemo), plus so many other things and I do need a lot of help now. But because of the independence that my parents allowed me to have when I was at school, that has all carried over into dealing with my own medical care, graduate school fairs and meetings (my parents have to drive and they stay on campus while I'm at the events but they never go to the actual events), figuring out my online classes so I can eventually go to grad school, etc. I had to learn how to be as independent as possible as a young adult with severe chronic illnesses when in undergraduate and that has carried over into my life now. If my parents had given me rules like your daughter has, I don't think I would be able to handle what's going on now without constant help from my parents. All of my doctors, inpatient nurses, home health nurse, family friends, etc are all amazed at how independent and responsible I am and how well I deal with all of this considering I am now fairly dependent on my parents these days. And I am extremely proud of that. And hopefully soon I will be well enough to go back to school, live on my own, get a job, etc and as scary as it seems somedays right now, I know that my parents provided me with as much independence and responsibly as possible in these circumstances and I know that if that time comes where I get stabilized, I will be able to be independent because of what they DIDNT do for me, just as much as what they DID do for me.
This is all basically to say that, while I understand being protective, and having a more unusual situation because of your daughters illnesses, I do agree with those who think you have given your daughter too many rules and too involved in daily events. If she is healthy enough to go away to school and play sports, she should be healthy enough for a longer leash of daily independence with less rules. But I also know that my doctors, and therapist, were all very clear that the worst thing my parents could do for me would be to micromanage my daily activities which is how we decided on our rules. Text contact 2x day, NO GPS tracking at all. No access to my academic records and no rules about grades, etc. no contact with any university faculty unless absolutely 100% necessary. My friends and roommates did have my parents phone numbers and my parents had theirs just in case no one could get in contact with me. And my parents knew where I worked and interned in case of emergencies. And I feel like it's just kind of common sense to let your parents know if you have had to go to the ER no matter what....the only difference I could see is that they wanted to be contacted ASAP and not after the fact.
I have 18 doctors (as of last week)....in undergrad, I had 10 specialists. Did I ever have a "normal college experience?"....most people would say no way. But everyone in my life worked together to make sure it was as normal as possible. Full time student, 2 degrees, sorority, summer job, hospital internship, after care job, research assistant position, student coordinator for a class....I'd say that I was allowed to have a fairly normal college life. I just happened to miss more classes and events than most students would. And I thank my parents, my friends, my doctors, my nurses, and my therapist everyday for allowing me to have that experience because I have basically lost the last 3 years of independence as a young adult and there's a chance I might not get to see beyond 30 so I am extremely grateful that I do not have (and never did have) helicopter parents. The one major difference I can see with my parents and you, is that my parents would never have stopped paying for things, etc even if I made choices that were potentially harmful to my health or even something that did cause me to end up hospitalized. I am very lucky to have the parents I have especially when it comes to my health. They support me, and take care of me as needed, but they still treat me as an adult capable of making my own choices