When Jacqueline Tourville, of Wells, Maine, thinks about sending her daughter off to college this month, the same questions keep circling in her mind.

“I worry about her getting sick,” said Ms. Tourville, a children’s book author, whose daughter, Claire Brown, 18, plans to attend Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., a drive that Ms. Tourville has clocked at exactly two hours and 22 minutes away. “How do I know what to do? Will the health staff tell me? Will she tell me?