Hmmm. Yes, I agree with Edwin.
Also, even as early as 1999-2000, I (and other colleagues, who have periodically informed my DH and I both that it has become even more common since) was getting the occasional phone call from parents-- who wanted to discuss their college student children with me.
Our administration, in fact, began sending out quarterly REMINDERS that we were NOT permitted to do this, because it was illegal to discuss students who were emancipated with any third party. Yes, their parents might have been writing the checks, but those educational records were still private.
I also know of two specific instances in the past five years alone in which the parent of a special needs student became pretty irate with me when I suggested (based on my own faculty experiences) that they needed to let their college student son/daughter take the lead in advocating for their needs-- and that they were NOT doing anyone any favors by "intervening" with campus services, faculty, or administration via phone from across the country. One of those-- really, REALLY not kidding-- involved a mom who freaked out when her DD didn't return texts for some period of time, and became unhinged that campus police wouldn't "update" her on the situation in real time. Because her DD was not feeling great and was sleeping. After letting her dorm-mates know that she was going to sleep for a while. So yeah. Child was behaving fine. Mom, not-so-much.
