Gas Prices on the Rise

The rise in gas prices continues to take a chunk out of students’ wallets.

A reoccurring theme over the past few months has been the steady increase in gas prices. The biggest problem is that gas prices rise much faster than they fall. Just this week, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Oxford will cost you $3.79, which can take a big chunk out of a student's wallet.

With the end of school right around the corner, students are left worrying over how they will pay for gas just to get back home for the summer. Most students are kept on a tight budget as it is, and with all the essentials that a college student must buy, a raise in gas price only makes life harder.

According to dailyfinance.com, a big reason why gas prices go up as fast as they do is because of contracts that gas stations have with their suppliers. When the wholesale price of a barrel of gas goes up, so does the price per gallon at the pump. Most of the time, a raise in prices at a gas station is in anticipation of higher wholesale prices. Daily Finance estimates that an increase of $5 per barrel from a supplier will yield to a 10 to 12 cent increase at the pump.

Jack Gerber, a freshman student here at Ole Miss, says that he has already cancelled a trip he had planned this summer because of gas prices.

I wanted to go visit some friends in Georgia this summer, but I’m not planning to go anymore because the gas will cost so much, said Jack.

And as of now, it does not look to be getting better. This will only hurt students more and more. The more money that students spend on gas means that they will have less money to pay for other things like food and household supplies. According to GPS Fleet Management, gas prices are about 75 cents higher than they were this time last year. The average price for a tank of gas raised almost 38 cents between February and March of this year.

This will mean that many students, like Jack, will have to alter some of their summer plans. Not only that, but if gas prices continue to rise into the fall, students may have trouble when they get back to school. One can only hope that the prices of gas will improve over the next few months.