Jillian Fitzgerald will be more at ease when she volunteers to give friends rides in her car. Because of low gas prices, Fitzgerald isn’t nervous to fill up her tank.

‘The dropping gas prices have definitely made a difference,’ said Fitzgerald, a junior English and textual studies and television, radio and film major. ‘Ten dollars gives me half a tank of gas as opposed to the thirty it took before.’

During November, gas prices that were as high as $4.40 this summer dropped dramatically.

Fitzgerald said she tried hard not to drive much during the summer. But she said it was hard because it’s her only means of transportation.

‘I try to let money affect where I go and what I do, so I try hard not to do that. If you need to save the money, you need to save the money,’ she said.

Whitney Ross, a food services worker in Brockway Dining Center, drove her Hyundai Elantra 10 hours to visit her brother in Virginia over the Thanksgiving holiday. She said she paid $20 for gas each way for the nearly 10-hour drive. And, she said she didn’t have to preplan for this trip like she did in the past.

‘Before, any traveling I did was on a place because it was cheaper that way,’ Ross said.

Ross also said over the Thanksgiving break she found herself going to places like the mall more when, before, she had cut back on such tasks.

Others, like freshman Jamie Pearce, didn’t feel too affected by the change in prices. She doesn’t have her own car, so her parents dictate her driving habits. She said the prices didn’t really affect her because her parents, who pay for gas, are still dealing with the financial burden from paying for gas this summer.

Junior Dominique Stasiulas agrees that those who don’t pay for gas themselves still suffer whatever financial troubles their parents do.

‘I feel more comfortable filling up my tank,’ Stasiulas said. ‘I felt ridiculous overpaying almost $70 to $80 for gas. There is a limit.’

Stasiulas said he feels encouraged to buy gas also due to certain program such as Price Chopper’s Fuel AdvantEdge, which gives discounts for gas to reward frequent grocery shoppers.

The long-term effects of whether or not the low prices will make much of a difference in the dwindling economy are still unknown, but several news outlets have said that the low prices may affect the holiday shopping season.

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Published on December 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm