Gas prices cause travel inconveniences for students

Nicholas Brooks
Staff Writer

Our country is faced with many conflicts and crises every day, from the war in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans. Despite all this, the most prevailing issue that faces students today is the price of gas. Our society is so dependent on personal travel that anyone with a car is affected by this powerful industry.
While every American is affected by the sky-high prices of gas, college students may have it worse than most. They are in a position where they have a vehicle but cannot afford to drive it.
While many students have jobs, the majority of a college student’s time is focused on either schoolwork or extra curricular activities, such as sports and clubs. This severely limits the hours we can work and the money we can make. Many students cannot even afford to get home.
For many Etown students, home is not just a hop, skip and a jump away; it’s more like an hour-plus drive through stop-and-go traffic. With gas prices the way they are, many students are stranded and forced to just let their vehicle sit alone in the Brown Lot.
“Personally, I feel that the government needs to do more to bring gas prices down,” sophomore Kyle Kensinger said. “Our society relies so much on gas and, unless something is done soon, our society will not be able to participate in the activities we have become accustomed to.”
Many students felt the same; they said that if gas prices continue to rise, our society will be forced into a major lifestyle change.
But why are gas prices so high?
Many East Coast states have recently had to deal with a spike in gas prices because of Hurricane Katrina. Two huge oil pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico where shut down because of the storm. These pipelines are a huge factor for Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey gas prices and, while these pipelines have just recently been repaired, they are not operational yet.
This explains the recent spike we all noticed around the end of August, but gas prices have been on a constant rise for years now. The national average price of gas in August was $2.55 a gallon; this was a 68-cent raise from 2004.
The combination of a tight balance of supply and demand and conflicts with oil traders are all factors that are causing gas prices to skyrocket.
If this is such a serious and prevalent issue to every American, then why isn’t our government doing anything to help?
Many students feel the government should not only put a cap on gas prices and begin regulating them instead of the states but also begin using our own oil resources such as those in Alaska.
Most people have differing opinions on this oil conflict, but one thing is for sure: gas prices are showing no definite decline and relief does not seem to be on the way, so students need to find a way to adapt to the situation and manage their gas use.

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