Due to recent world events, gas prices have spiked and are approaching or have already risen over six dollars per gallon. This drastic change has hurt many Bruins and impacted their budgets.
2022 has been a very chaotic year, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine adding to the already massive pile of issues we have. One way this invasion has impacted us is by increasing the price of gas. With gas more expensive, students have either had to start earning more money or cut down their traveling to conserve what little gas they can afford.
Senior Morgan Peterson was one of many students affected by the increased prices.
“Well for a while I was only working Sundays because I had basketball every day, and I only get $100 paychecks because I don’t call out sometimes,” she said. “I only had 8 hours on my paycheck, I’d get $100 and gas is like $70, and I refill it three times a week. I have to quit my job, they won’t give me hours so I have to quit because I literally can’t afford it, and I have to pay my car payment, which is $320 a month.”
Junior Zackery Shultz had his social life inhibited by the rise in gas prices.
“It’s limited my driving a lot actually,” he said. “Usually I go and hang out with friends a little bit more, but because of the increase in gas, I actually haven’t been able to go hang out with friends as much, because it costs like three times as much even though it’s been raised 30 cents, but that can change a lot, surprisingly. Especially when it’s $6.19 now, it’s not fun. The gas prices really do suck, and it really sucks because every week my parents have me get gas but they have me get a set amount so I don’t drain my bank account. It sucks a lot that the gas prices have increased, it’s definitely limited my driving habits.”
Senior Morgan Neeb, even if he didn’t drive as much, was not a fan of the impact on his free time.
“I live and work in LoP, so if I go to school and go to work I’ll drive maybe five miles the whole day,” he said. “I mean I drive to other places on the weekend, but during the week not really. Still, if I want to go do something, if I want to go to my friend’s house, it’s going to cost me $20 to get there. I don’t know, it’s just harder to do stuff now. And then Best Gas is not the best gas. When I put it in, it just goes away and I’m like ‘Where’d it go?’ I don’t know, it feels like I use it faster than Chevron.”
Matt MacDonald, one of Bear River’s economics teachers, had a more neutral opinion on the increased gas prices.
“I think everyone has been impacted by the increased prices at the pump,” he said. “[However] gasoline is a relatively inelastic product, meaning changes in prices have little influence on demand. In the rural area in which we live, driving our own vehicles is our only option, whereas, in major urban areas, more people are opting for public transportation.”
While the impact can vary depending on their financial position, everyone is being hurt by these inflated gas prices. Having less money to spare is dangerous as our economy is still recovering from the impact of COVID-19. People want gas prices to go back down and return to standard prices, but whether that will happen is uncertain.
