Maybe one reason WA is so strict is that we don't have a state income tax, so relatively desireable place for many people to establish residency in.
Again, most parents of college kids would probably have one person working, so it wouldn't be as much of an issue. But something that can snag us early-retirees.
When we got our WA driver's licenses a few months ago, DMV was pretty strict too. We had car insurance cards with our new address, but they wouldn't accept the card, just the *policy.* They wouldn't accept a signed lease, just a mortgage. They wouldn't accept our cell phone bill because it was Republic Wireless, which they weren't familiar with. We don't have paystubs since we're FIREd. We ended up printing out a 50 page insurance policy, but it was tougher than expected. If we had sold our cars, I'm not sure what we would've used.
ETA: we would've waited for a utility bill. It just would've taken awhile.