By Megan Fraser
With less than a month to go before the end of classes and the start of final exams, students’ energy levels are not the only things running on empty – their gas tanks may be too.
The national average of regular unleaded fuel has risen more than 30 cents in the past year, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) Fuel Gauge Report.
The gas prices are driven by crude oil, which is at an all-time high, with a barrel costing as much as $55, but other reasons for this spike are difficult to explain, said Art Kinsman, director of government affairs for AAA Southern New England.
“Retail price tends to go up a lot of times through just speculation. An OPEC oil administrator said there was a possibility of it going up to $80 a barrel in the next couple of years,” Kinsman said. “When a lot of speculation and inflammatory rhetoric is being offered, it turns into a market frenzy.”
Northeastern students and Massachusetts residents do not have the worst of the frenzy, either. New England falls around the middle of the regional averages at $2 per gallon. The southwest region has the cheapest average, only three cents less at $1.97 per gallon, and motorists on the Pacific coast are paying $2.23 per gallon on average.
Freshman pharmacy major Matthew Cantone knows all too well how grim the numbers are as he pulls into the gas station.
“When I started driving, gas prices were only like $1.50,” he said. “Now you don’t get a lot for what you give.”
What he gives is between $25 and $30 on gas every week. Cantone commutes to school and has no other transportation options. He is saving money on room and board, but that does not mean his wallet is not suffering.
Sophomore English and linguistics major Melanie Bishop co-ops at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Door LLP on State Street, and can get to work on the T, for which she is thankful.
“Part of the reason I use the T is due to the fact that it is expensive just to house my car on campus. The other issue would definitely be gas prices. It was simply less hassle and less money to buy a T-pass,” Bishop said. “I do not commute by car, but coming from a family where both parents live in New York and drive at least a half hour away from home, gas can get expensive. Prices are getting horrible, and there does not seem to be a good reason for it. Living in a city or even near a city most definitely has an effect.”
However, the high gas prices are not a problem for all students. San Francisco native Cody Bannerman could not bring his car cross-country to begin with.
“The gas prices don’t affect me because I purposely took a job in the city so that I could use the T for transportation,” said Bannerman, a sophomore economics and political science major.
Kinsman also said the drop may take place as soon as May, but the market generally sees a spike in the beginning of summer, so commuters and automobile owners should anticipate another spike after the short drop.
“It looks like it is probably going to continue rising. Last year it got up to around $2.10, but perhaps after the peak it may fall somewhat,” Kinsman said.
