Gas Prices

Coming into a new year, students such as myself were hopeful to be rid of the stress following the COVID-19 pandemic, to finally feel a sense of freedom from a world which seemed to be crumbling around us. As Spring semester began, it was refreshing to finally be back on campus and socializing with my fellow graduating seniors, but this feeling was short lived as 2022 began to unravel another wave of unfortunate events. As COVID restrictions began to diminish, of course it was only natural for gas prices to increase due to increasing demand, but since February, prices have essentially sky-rocketed in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war, nearly reaching upwards of $6.75 per gallon in my hometown of West Covina.

Mirriam Ruvalcaba, a Spanish major, says,” These gas prices have only made things difficult, considering that not only am I a full-time student, but only able to work part-time as well. Commuting has been horrible, having to drive from campus to Ontario daily to simply get to work, NOT including my drive home. I have had to pay nearly double to fill up my tank!”

Another student, Noah Acosta, a CIS major claims,” Within a little over half a year, I have had to deal with these rising gas prices. Even though I drive a Honda, I have had to pay more than double to completely fill my tank and it doesn’t help that I am only working part time so most of my funds are being spent on gas. This has made things tough and has really lowered my morale even though this is my last semester.”

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association had estimated that the United States imported an average of 209,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia throughout 2021, accounting for roughly 3% of imported oil last year (Khan). In further illustrating these effects, according to the American Automobile Association the national average of a gallon of gas as of April 17, 2022 was $4.087, compared to last year’s national average of $2.870. These numbers are terrifying in my opinion, because as a student myself, it simply adds more stress knowing I am paying almost double in gas, and since I own a truck, it is rather quite sad. Despite making up 3% of imported crude oil, the withdrawal from relying on Russian oil imports has allowed us to feel the consequences, and that “measly” 3% has hit us, students in particular, rather hard.

Students, as I’ve seen, are in this stressful position of balancing part-time to full time jobs and their studies, relying on their earnings to fund their textbooks, classes, and of course their commute. This sudden increase has left many of us with very limited options when it comes to saving our money, budgeting becomes even more stressful, and not to mention with finals coming up, these last few months have been rather difficult to say the least.