I second the thought that it can help kids to be closer to the family. We live fairly close to my sons BS and recently took one of my friends along on a visit as she wanted to see the campus. When we arrived my younger kids ran up and hugged their brother and he hugged them back closely. My friend was a bit taken back by that and said that her kids barely speak to each other. This summer all three boys are sleeping in the same room and doing lots of fun bonding things.
I have a hard time feeling as though we are losing our son. He feels to be closer to us emotionally if not physically. We feel so blessed to be a family of what someone here called “local boarders”. He gets the boarding school experience, but we can be there rather quickly if he needs us. This was a definite plus when we got a call in the winter that he was being taken to a local ER after a nasty fall on his face!