Higher gas prices push OSU students to side hustles and tighter budgets
Gas prices are back over $3 in Stillwater, and some Oklahoma State students say every few cents at the pump now shows up in their weekly budgets.
OSU student Isais Sanchez fills up about every two weeks. He said he remembers paying around $2 a gallon a few months ago and thinks it was closer to $2.20 the last time he filled up.
“Yeah, I would say it does,” Sanchez said when asked if higher prices have changed how much he drives. “If gas went up another 50 cents a gallon, definitely something in my groceries — probably the snacks I get — I’d cut back so I can afford gas.”
Sanchez said he does not buy anything extra in the store when prices jump.
“I don’t even buy snacks if gas is more expensive,” he said. “As soon as it starts going past $3, that’s when it’s too much.”
Other students said gas prices have not changed how often they drive but have changed how they think about money and how much they work.
OSU student Madeline Chaney said she fills up roughly once a month and budgets about $30 for gas. She usually pulls into the closest station because she is “always on empty” and does not chase cheaper prices around town.
“When I think about gas, it’s not even the per gallon that gets me,” Chaney said. “It’s when I get my receipt and I’m like, ‘damn.’ Nothing will ever be as bad as COVID, and I will stand on that, because that was insane.”
Chaney said she remembers paying $40 to $50 a fill-up during the pandemic, which she said was more than double what she pays now.
Chaney already limits eating out to once a week and sticks to groceries, leaving not much to cut if prices rise.
“I’d probably just put more pressure on myself to pick up more shifts and work harder on my side hustles,” Chaney said.
Chaney said she resells clothes and DVDs on apps like Poshmark and flips items she finds at thrift stores to help cover extra costs.
Some students said they are changing how they pay for gas rather than how much they drive.
Finance major Brock Coleman drives a truck and said he used to fill his tank all the way when prices were closer to $2 a gallon.
“You could get it for about 40 bucks, which is pretty good,” Coleman said.
Now he fills up in $20 increments, sometimes twice a week, so a single charge does not hit his account as hard. He said he keeps an eye out for cheaper prices but still relies on stations that are close by.
“A lot of times I go for cheaper,” Coleman said. “Usually I try to find the gas station that’s closest. This one, the Valero up there. And then Walmart usually has the cheapest prices too.”
Coleman said he recently signed up for OnCue’s rewards program and is hoping discounts will help keep his costs down. He said he expects to keep driving as long as prices stay under a certain line.
“If it can stay below three (dollars), then I think I’ll be driving pretty consistently,” Coleman said. “If it gets to $3.50, $3.75 for the cheap stuff, I think that’s pretty crazy.”
Sanchez, Chaney and Coleman all drew their personal lines around the same mark: somewhere just above $3 a gallon. For now, that means fewer extras, tighter budgets or more side gigs — not parking their cars. If prices keep climbing toward the numbers they remember from the pandemic, students said they may have fewer places left to cut.
