I wouldn't say that's completely unheard of when I went to college. If he's watching it because he doesn't trust you to manage your own money that's one thing, but there are other reasons for being able to manage an account.

For instance, if the father wasn't a custodial on the account he can't deposit money in the event he needs it. My parents would have to mail me a check or pay a $25 bank transfer fee because they bank elsewhere. With student privacy laws, the father can't directly see school bills. Those have to go to the student, even if the parents are paying. My school also had a student account where you could pay for food, vending, and laundry. This is a separate account that requires replenishing, so the guys I knew would sometimes call their folks asking them to deposit some money for expenditures (freshman/sophomore year, everyone pretty much had some side income by then).

He probably doesn't keep active tabs. I doubt he wakes up and says "I wonder what <my name> bought yesterday" (if he did, that'd many boring weeks, followed by a day where I went grocery shopping).

as caw[1] said, it's really more so that he can easily transfer money to the account in the event I need it.

[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3158076

That's pretty common. When I was in college, my parents wanted to keep tabs on the account they deposited working money in. It gives them peace of mind, especially considering the sums being discussed. The only time it ever came up was when I switched from take 15 hours to 22 and my burn rate shot through the roof.

USAA banking is available to everyone. Some nicer services (deposit by phone, insurance) are for service members only.

For what it's worth, my brother (Air Force) sold me on USAA after he signed up with them. I worked at Wells Fargo at the time, so I had the best accounts. I'm happy I made the switch. Also, their web interface and iOS apps are excellent. By far the best I've seen.