“I even can’t afford to drive Uber anymore,” Johnson said, as Tallahassee gasoline prices topped $4.00 a gallon.
Prices at Florida pumps ballooned to an average price of $4.167 a gallon in Leon County as of yesterday, or a 51 cent per gallon jump in the last five days, according to AAA. This is the first time since July 2008 that gas prices have surpassed the $4 a gallon mark.
Yesterday's average was the highest since April 2012, with the average cost for a tank fill-up hovering at $64 compared to $41 this time last year.
The higher prices at the pump have forced students, like most Americans, to make difficult choices and to rethink their spending. Gas prices particularly hit lower-income students, who were likely already struggling hard, because they have less money and fewer options for cutting back on expenses.
“It’s going to crimp students purchasing power dramatically,” Beth Ann Bovino, chief U.S. economist for S&P Global Inc. “Students won’t feel wealthy enough to go out to restaurants, so they’ll go for cheaper options.” With Spring Break just around the corner, many may be forced to rethink their travel plans, stay closer to campus, or rethink those plans altogether, she said.
With about two-thirds of FAMU’s student body living off campus, driving on average 6 miles each way to campus, the sticker shock at the pump has put an immediate dent in their already tight budgets.
“A lot of us students, were already living check to check trying make ends meet, Johnson said. “We are already feeling the pain, and worry what we are going to do if these gas prices continue to rise.”