Yeah, I would not advise considering this in the abstract. I do think if a kid and parent are confident about the strength of their answers to blossom’s first three questions, then the risk of having to transfer back could be down to a tolerable level. But if instead their answers to one or more of those three questions are not strong, then I would tend to agree sticking to a college much closer to home, with an academic format for which the student has been consciously prepared by their high school, and much more institutional “scaffolding” for struggling students, is probably a better idea.
I guess the only thing I would emphasize is that while a more familiar format and more institutional scaffolding might help, I do think some kids just are not ready to be far from home and parents. Indeed, I think it is not uncommon for some kids to benefit from just knowing they are close to home/parents, even if they end up not needing that proximity often in practice. So for some kids, the right answer would not be just any US college, but one close to home.
But for sure, going to a UK college is going to be a bigger leap from home in various ways than any US college. So kids and parents should carefully evaluate whether they feel confident they are ready for that big of a leap.