During the school year, fluctuations in gas prices rarely affect many MSU students. This week, as students prepare to hit the road for spring break, the recent rise in gas prices could make a difference.
According to AAA Automobile Club of Michigan, gas prices have gone up 29 cents per gallon the past month and 9 cents per gallon within the past week, bringing the current average to $3.43 per gallon in East Lansing.
Advertising senior Laura Neiman said she is heading home to St. Louis, and can’t believe the level gas prices recently have reached.
“I haven’t filled up in the last month,” Neiman said. “I’ve been scared to check. It’s not going to affect my plans because I have to go home. But, I’m definitely going to think about what I’m spending more.”
Jimmy Singh, cashier for CITGO Petroleum Corporation, 1301 E. Grand River Ave., said the recent conflict in the Middle East affects prices.
“Over the last three or four months, the price has been pretty steady,” Singh said. “Recently what’s been going on in Egypt and Libya has been causing the market to go up. Therefore, we have to raise our prices because the cost of the gas has gone up.”
Singh added there’s not a lot of wiggle room when it comes to price, and it is often dependant upon the surrounding competition.
“(Our ability to adjust prices is) very, very small,” he said. “We follow other gas stations, so if they go down (in price), we follow them.”
Charlotte Oonk, a human biology junior, said the hike in prices definitely has affected her and her friends trip to Daytona Beach, Fla.
“We’re now trying to find a different car to take instead of an SUV,” she said. “But it’s really up in the air.”
Heather Wellman, an elementary education senior, has been planning her trip to Orlando, Fla., and South Carolina for about two or three months and realizes that the change in prices will alter her plans.
“I had to work more hours at my job,” she said. “I know I’m going to spend more money, but I still want to go.”
Neiman also has relied on work to help cover the difference but still will be adjusting her spending slightly.
“I’m a little bit more (restricted.) But, I’ve been working, and I’ve saved up enough that I’ll be fine,” she said.
For Oonk, the impact has been more dramatic, leading her and her friends to find small ways to cut back together.
“Me and my friends don’t really go shopping as much as we would like to, and we’ve been cutting back on groceries, the little things,” she said. “We don’t drive as much, and now we walk to campus.”
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