Affording gas as a student
High schoolers are going more broke than ever before!
High schoolers are struggling to fuel up. A picture of the local Chevron located by The Human Bean in Wilsonville.
This past weekend while working my normal 6:30am-1pm shift I heard complaints all day long about the increased gas prices. If adults were complaining this much about affording gas, how were broke high schoolers handling the blow? To find out for myself I headed to the gas station after I got off. I was flabbergasted that it cost me over $70 to fill my tank compared to the $40 it cost me over the summer.
As a student paying for one’s own gas can be difficult especially when the teen participates in extracurricular activities and has a job they have to commute to. Marisa Roska is a senior at WVHS who dances, plays golf, and works at Langdon Farms on the weekends. She fuels her tank for around 60 bucks and fills her tank every 3 weeks. “I’m always driving out and about and am not thrilled about the recent rise in gas prices,” expressed Marisa. She also exclaimed how it’s specifically hard to afford gas as a student with extracurriculars and there’s so many other students in the same boat as her.
A survey was put out over the WBN Instagram, @wvhsbroadcast on Monday evening. The survey concluded that the majority of students pay around $50-$60 for gas; however, nearly 24% of students are paying over $70. Senior Tatum Lubisich claimed that she paid over $150 to fill her tank just this last week. Her mom is considering enrolling in online school to reduce the commute time their family makes each week and ultimately save money on gas.
As a high schooler paying $70 every few weeks to fill up one’s means for transportation adds up. Senior Claire Ihlenburg stated, “Yesterday I got 13.6 gallons of gas for $60.85.” She also mentioned that she pays for her own gas and is frustrated by the dramatic price increase. Although it’s true that not every high schooler fills up their own tank the gas prices still have an effect in one way or another on their family.
Students and their families are having to get crafty with where they spend their additional money and are having to budget more than ever before due to the recent climb in gas prices.