By Zak Zeinert, Student Reporter

Rising gas prices make it harder for students to travel anywhere this spring break.

With prices exceeding $3 per gallon, students say they are finding it increasingly frustrating to travel, especially with spring break approaching.

Jim Irvin, representative for AAA Texas, said prices are likely to soar even higher soon.

“All factors indicate there will be a jump.” Irvin said.

Rising gas prices can be attributed to three key factors involving supply and demand, Irvin said. One of these factors is spring break. With more people traveling, the demand for gasoline will rise.

Spring break will also see refineries shift from winter grade to summer grade gas. This will be a period of time in which refineries will begin to put out less gas. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), also announced last week that they will not increase the amount of oil they are sending over.

The increases in demand coupled with the shortage of supply all serve to boost prices.

“How much gas goes up is anyone’s guess,” Irvin said. “Experts predict it could be $4 per gallon during spring break, but they predicted the same thing last year, and it didn’t happen.”

Despite this, Irvin says the amount of people driving this year will be just slightly less than last year and recommends that students should look for ways to better preserve gasoline.

“Properly maintaining your vehicle helps as well as lightening the load as much as possible.” Irvin said.

Steven Munoz, sophomore business major from Escondido, Calif., will be driving home to San Diego this spring break.

“It isn’t really an issue because I’m going to have to pay it no matter what. But it stinks because we don’t have a choice about it. Everyone raises their prices at the same time, so we really don’t have a choice about how much we pay,” Munoz said.

For more tips on how to preserve gasoline, students can visit www.gasolinecreditcards.com.