Higher gas prices hurting students wallets

By Allison Steinheiser - Staff Writer

Seeing the amount of money it takes to fill up your gas tank can be a pain, especially when it could be as much as half of your pay check.

“I don’t understand why they are so high,” Ryan Minutello (senior/radio and tv) said.

This reaction is shared by many students.  The rising price of gas has become an issue for students, especially commuters. With students driving to campus from as far as Pittsburgh, Washington, and Uniontown, many are seeing their bank accounts suffer.

Students do not have very many options when it comes to filling up their tank in California, Pa. Kwik Fill is the only place to get gas within California, so if students are in need of gas as they are leaving campus, they don’t have any other options.

According to AAA.com, the average price of gas in the area is $3.97. Last month is was $3.82, while six months ago the price was just $3.47.  Some of the stations with the lowest prices in the area were Sunoco and Citgo in Brownsville, Gulf in Charleroi, and Sunoco in Stockdale. The price of gas at the Sunoco and Citgo in Brownsville was $3.93 as of Apr. 14. In Stockdale, you could find gas at the Sunoco as low as $3.95 on Sunday afternoon. The Gulf in Charleroi was charging $3.93 on Apr.14.  The price for gas at the Kwik Fill in California was the area average, $3.97.

These prices leave students who have to drive every day facing a challenge to find a way to pay for the gas that they use.

“I had money to get gas in my car, but I didn’t have money to do anything…with other bills, I can’t afford to go anywhere,” Minutello said.

With students having limited time to work, it makes it difficult to pay for school and bills to begin with. Now adding high gas prices, it makes it even harder to find the extra cash. This is a problem that many students are facing and finding solutions to this problem has been difficult.