Spring Break
Gas prices hurt students' pocketbooks
By: David Morris
Issue date: 7/1/08 Section: News
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Ben Sterling, a senior physics and math double major, said, "I have a 15-gallon tank and I have a supercharger in my engine, so I have to use premium. I get good gas mileage on the highway, but if I put my foot into it, it hurts. It costs me about $4.15 a gallon."
Some students have found that driving a diesel car helps mitigate the cost, but filling up is still expensive. "I drive a diesel Jeep Liberty CRD, which gets pretty good mileage, about 30 miles a gallon on the highway," said Jess Fields, a junior political science major. "[But] diesel is really expensive - it's gone up two dollars since I got that car. It costs about $85 or $90 [to fill up a tank]."
Geoff Sundstrom, director of public relations for AAA, attributed the rising cost of gas to an increase in demand. "The No. 1 factor [in the increasing cost of gas] is an increase in the cost of crude oil. The cause behind that is primarily that there's been an explosion in worldwide demand but no corresponding increase in supply."
Despite popular belief, Sundstrom said, gas stations do not see much profit from gas sales.
"Most of the profits are accruing to the sovereign governments who control the oil fields in the form of royalties paid by the oil companies, and to the oil companies themselves," he said. "In the U.S., profitability for the individual gas stations is pretty low, something like pennies on the gallon. Most gas stations also operate as convenience stores, which is the more profitable business. The gas is just sort of an inducement to get people into the convenience store."
Roger Jackson, a Chevron clerk, confirmed the low profit margin on gas sales. "We make maybe five or six cents a gallon," he said. "That's about what most gas stations make."
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