College students adapt to high gas prices

Instead of driving, students opt to walk, ride public transportation, or use Zipcar.

When gas prices climbed to $4.10 this summer, Old Dominion University student Azam Shafiee knew she had to make a few changes.

She drove less. Instead of commuting 25 minutes to work, she found a new job just 10 minutes away from the Norfolk, Va., campus.

“I walk around a lot more,” she wrote in an e-mail.

College students are arguably the group most sensitive to swings in gasoline prices and the quickest to adjust. So how has the dorm set reacted as the price at the pump surged then declined somewhat to a $3.64 national average?

They’re finding inventive ways to spend less time behind the wheel, and university administrators are finding creative ways to assist them.

Christian Science Monitor