Scotland?

[Baroluleni]

Hello fellow Mumsnetters.
I’m asking on AIBU purely for traffic.
currently residing in the East of England with children (4) all apart from one having left home.
our youngest is 15 and still needs to complete 6th form and then University in veterinary.

We are seriously considering selling up our 5 bed country style house and therefore releasing equity and downsizing to a 3/4 bed detached more modern style house.

DH wfh but occasionally will need to go into office on outskirts of Glasgow. (Very occasionally).
We therefore have visited Scotland many times and absolutely love the amenities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Please give us some ideas on the very best locations with modern style housing, max budget £450k as want to be mortgage free and do not want structural work to do.

i have seen online Paisley seems a lovely area. But have yet to visit.

obviously want the usual and predictable, minimal criminal and honestly activity.

Glasgow and Edinburgh appeal to us, as along as within 30mins drive to either city for amenities.

One thing not already mentioned, when looking at house prices on Rightmove bear in mind that most in Scotland are listed as 'offers over' and you'll need to be paying at least 10% more, in many areas 25% more than the listing price to be successful.

Bear in mind the offers over system. Scotland is not as cheap as it looks and the house that is advertised at 250,000 could have a home report of 280 and might go for 330 so you need to understand the system before you start shopping because what you see invite move you possibly couldn't afford.

A flat opposite me in the trendy South Side was advertised for 170 offers over, and sold for 232.

Helensburgh is a nice town. About 30 - 45 minutes from Glasgow. Worth going to check out. I like Ayr too as my son and Grandson live there ?

Stop. Stop. Stop.

I hadn’t realised you meant to move your child before the finished school.

6th form isn’t a thing in Scotland. The Scottish curriculum and exam system is totally different.

If you want to move while your child is still at school then you’re either looking at massive upheaval in their education (which is not ideal if they want to do vet) or private school that follows an English curriculum. Your child will be looking at potentially needing to do Nat 5s, (without having done the Nat 4) and then Highers / Advanced Highers without having done the same preceding syllabus.

Go for it. Apart from anything else, I believe as residents your daughter would get her uni fees paid, and the Royal Dick Vet College in Edinburgh is legendary.

I agree, you would be much better waiting until your child finishes school, the 2 school systems are vastly different and moving in the exam years would be very challenging.

You have to have been resident for a number of years (not sure how many), plus no-fees is on its way out in the next few years, quite likely. Added to that, it's a bugger to get into the Dick Vet.

As soon as I saw OP's post the bit that jumped out was DC wanting to study Veterinary Medicine. Only two unis offer this degree and entrance to the courses is highly competitive. As others have mentioned, I would advise OP to look into the Scottish education system first and the chances of DC getting a place on one of the courses, before looking at where to move to.

Linlithgow, Murieston, East & Mid Calder would be my Edinburgh side recomendations.

Paisley I wouldn't choose for myself

Thank you just looked at requirements for veterinary science and mentioning the Higher being 5 subjects.
So prob best we hold out for finishing 6th form in England as already know requires ABB for elsewhere and would be accepted with this.

The free uni tuition in Scotland is def a Plus point in our move, as eldest 3 costing fortune through uni. Thankfully only one left now right down south of England.

Just figuring what’s best all round thank you.

There’s usually well over 1000 applicants for the places on the vet course! A child moving exam / education systems at such a crucial time is compromising the likelihood they will acheive the grades needed.

You might see some nice houses in Paisley but it’s not known for being a great area. Stirling is lovely and you could get a decent size house for the money. There is a uni and great transport links to Glasgow/ Edinburgh. It is a nice sized town and has access to the country/ north and the central belt. It’s definitely worth checking out.

paisley will be cheaper but as most others have said it is not a desirable area,
look at bishopton, Houston, bridge of weir, Kilmalcolm, skelmorlie

You won't get uni fees paid. You need to be resident here for a certain no of years.

Also be careful of the offers over system. You need to have a local solicitor with experience of that houses are going for over the home report value. Offers over prices are fairly irrelevant. Home report value is what's key.

This.

Dont think thats accurate, I think you have to be resident in uk for 3 years before and resident in Scotland when course starts to qualify

Currently, you have to be a resident in Scotland for three years in order to be eligible for tuition fees to be paid, but paid uni fees are expected to discontinued in the near future.

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow vet med courses require a min AAA at A-Level plus 4+ weeks of a relevant work placement. Many applicants will have better results than this.

I wouldn't bank on free tuition fees. The HE system here is in crisis at the moment, partly due to the free tuition fees, so there will be a rethink of this before long.

i meant Hamilton is the area we thought looked quite nice.

Ah, okay. Hamilton certainly has some nice bits, some not-so-nice too but there's much worse out there. What it does have is a large choice of detached houses in or below your budget, and very good rail and motorway links.
It also has Chatelherault Country Park which is great, really beautiful and miles of walking round it.

I'd also suggest then that you look at Bothwell, which in my opinion is hands down the nicest town/suburb in that general area.

As previous posters have mentioned, most houses are marketed as offers over, and people will be expecting to get more than the stated price. How much more depends on area, but it can be anything from 10% to 20% and up.

You can circumvent that by buying a new build, of which Hamilton has a vast and ever-increasing supply.

Scottish Fee Status Eligibility
✅ You must have been "ordinarily resident" in Scotland for at least 3 years before the start of your course.
✅ You must also be "settled" in the UK (e.g., a British citizen or have indefinite leave to remain).
✅ You must not have moved to Scotland solely for education (i.e., if you moved from another part of the UK to study, you won’t qualify).

The uni fees thing is complicated and is all about where you are "ordinarily resident". Someone moving, doing 3 years at school and then going to Uni probably would be "ordinarily resident".

However, many unis don't actually want lots of Scottish students and take the bare minimum which they have to by law. Because the Scot Gov pays about £2k per home student, and they can charge 5 times that to English/Welsh/overseas students. Getting into vet med is really tough for anyone, and for someone who has changed systems at such a crucial age the odds are stacked against them.

So let them complete their education in England and at the point of them starting to look at Ucas applications, then start to plan a move. Use the 18 months between then and now to make lots of visits and research areas.

Just looked up the cost and it's an eye watering £47,000+ per year for Vet Med if you're not eligible for paid tuition!

Loads of US students consider £47k for vet med to be a steal!

I don't think that's right - are you looking at an overseas rate not the "rest of UK" rate? I think it's about £9.5k.

And agree - Edinburgh and Glasgow both v popular with North American students.