Plan 2 loan interest rate changed again. Maintenance loan for 2026/27 announced. Rent in Manchester up 9 per cent. Graduate scheme deadlines this week. Your council tax exemption, explained. That is a typical morning on The Stripes Blog.
The Stripes Blog is a money briefing for students and recent graduates in the UK. It is built to be read on a phone before a 9am lecture: five short dated items, headline first, two to four sentences each, then one line on why it matters to you. No padding, no lifestyle filler.
What it covers, in order of how often readers ask:
Student loans. Plan 2 versus Plan 5, how interest is set, what repayments look like on a first salary, and why the “debt” number matters less than the repayment terms.
Rent and bills. Guarantors, deposits, deposit protection schemes, council tax exemptions and the energy contracts that student houses get wrong.
Budgets. Maintenance loan instalment dates, overdraft limits, part-time work and tax codes.
First jobs. Graduate salary bands, pension auto-enrolment, payslip deductions and the first self-assessment if you have freelanced on the side.
The Stripes Blog is edited by Ellie Barnes, a recent graduate who started writing the briefing for her housemates. It is an independent UK publication and does not give personal financial advice.