The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Commuter students benefit from lower gas prices

Video and Story by Noland Arocha/@officialdjmenyo

Business senior Alex Morales commutes 30 minutes from the northwest side of San Antonio to Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s campus on the South Side of the city.

Morales, a transfer student from UTSA, said he is attending A&M-San Antonio to save money on tuition. However, the long commute to and from the university forced him to register for online classes rather than endure the commute.

“When I started college, gas was almost $4 dollars per gallon. I drive a Dodge Ram truck, so it was getting so expensive to drive to school,” said Morales, 23.

With the drop in crude oil gasoline prices, gas prices bottomed out in January at $2 per gallon in San Antonio, which is temporarily helping commuting students financially in San Antonio and nationwide.

Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst at Gasbuddy.com, said those who are going to benefit from this year’s lower gas prices are likely students, small businesses, and anybody involved in delivering product or services.

San Antonio has not seen gasoline under $2 per gallon since 2009. Texas and other states have already seen prices drop below $2.

Last year, the average regular unleaded gas price was $3.31 nationally and approximately $3.14 in San Antonio, according to GasBuddy.com.

Morales, like other students, said he can’t complain about the lower prices. He is happy to save money at the pump and says he spends his extra cash on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Gatorades.

Others students, who live in car-dependent San Antonio, say they are benefiting.

Education junior America Ives said in an email lower gas prices means she has to work fewer hours. “Not only does it relieve a bit of stress by seeing lower numbers but it also has helped me in my studies,” she said. “As a college student paying my way through college it helped not having to work as much and putting in long hours at work. Instead, I can use that time to do other things such as study and focus on my homework.

But even college students know low prices won’t last forever. “Too bad these gas prices probably won’t last that long,” Ives said.

Compared to last year consumers are paying less at the pump. But to put things in perspective, the savings aren’t huge for students.

Laskowski said that in 2015 a typical motorist — one who travels an average of 15,000 miles per year — will save $750.

“I don’t think there’s any evidence that consumers are doing anything out of the ordinary.” They are simply paying the bills, he said.

“The saving comes along incrementally as people pay for gasoline. So, it’s not like they have a windfall that they have in their pockets. It’s just a few extra dollars each week,” Laskowski said.

As summer approaches, according to Laskoski’s research, prices will go up due to the fact the Environmental Protection Agency mandates a special kind of gasoline called summer blend sold from May to September. Summer Blend, containing additional additives, costs more because it’s more expensive to produce, it take refineries more time to produce. That means gas prices are on the rise the close we get to summer.

“I hope that gas stays like this, at least until I graduate,” Morales said.

About the Author

Noland Arocha
Noland Arocha is a reporter and video journalist for The Mesquite. He is dual major in communications and business, and graduated from 3 of the Alamo Colleges in different degrees. He hopes to pursue his MBA and run his own small business. Outside the newsroom, he enjoys the art of music production and filming short movies.

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