One of the most talked about issues on campus is the rise in gas prices. From the time students were 16 years old and got our permit, up to our current years in college, gas has continued to take a toll on our wallets. The issues that stem from the rise in gas prices are endless. Travel by air, car and train are all affected. The 2008 Presidential debate’s primary focus is on alternative forms of energy, other than oil, to fuel our cars.
The most common form of transportation in the U.S. is by car. When Cabrini College students witnessed the rise in gas prices over the summer, they realized that change was necessary. Instead of driving, students opt to walk, bicycle, contact public safety, as well as use public transportation to get around. More and more commuter students are purchasing parking lot passes so that they can stay with friends overnight to avoid making the road trip from home to school, everyday. Jobs on campus are becoming harder and harder to obtain because students are all looking to earn some extra cash to pay for gas.
Robert Rabena, sophomore exercise science major, copes with the issue of rising gas prices by car pooling with friends, spending money less foolishly and by picking up extra hours at work over the summer. Rabena admits that he is afraid to travel by commercial airplane; therefore his world travel is not majorly affected by the rise in gas prices.
Vince Mirarchi, freshman human resources major, said that he rarely goes out to dinner with his family and friends in order to save gas money. Mirarchi also said that he saves all of his change, picks up extra hours at work and doesn’t travel by airplane; therefore, his world travel is not affected by higher gas prices.
Susan Schmitt, sophomore psychology major says that she saves her tip money from waitressing, drives less and went on her annual trip to Florida and South Carolina via train to avoid the expenses of flying.
Each of these Cabrini students has struggled to be conservative with regards to their money, in order to be able to afford the everyday expenditures of driving.
The rise in gas prices creates a new attitude of mass conservatism in which everyone struggles to make some form of change in the way in which they regulate their currency, in order to accommodate the augmented gas rates. These spontaneous, unpredictable swells in gas prices in the United States is greatly hurting the American economy and giving college students one more thing to stress over.
