With the increase of gas and food prices, CLC students share how they have been affected financially and emotionally. 

The inflation rate in the United States has increased immensely recently, one reason being due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its long-lasting effect on the economy. According to the U.S. Labor Department, as of August 10, 2022, the inflation rate is at 8.5%, dropping from the previous 9.1% – the highest it’s been since November 1981. 

These economic changes affect College of Lake County students significantly because the majority of students are commuting from home. In general, this high level of inflation affects how people live their lives. CLC student Naomi Aalbregtse described the increase in gas prices to be stressful and concerning for her and her family. 

“We have to conserve gas a lot more than we used to,” Aalbregtse said. “We used to be able to fill up our tank with no worries and now we definitely have to limit the amount of time we travel.”

CLC student Crystal Ramirez also has experience in conserving gas and even planning which days to fill up her gas tank depending on the prices. For example, not getting gas one day because the price fluctuates so much that it could be cheaper by the next day. 

“These changes made me feel uncertain in the beginning,” Ramirez said. “But once we kept going further in and realizing ‘this isn’t an easy fix, and it won’t go away tomorrow,’ it became a reality.” 

Prices increasing do not just affect one’s ability to drive and buy gas, but also one’s ability to buy food and provide for themselves and their families. Making changes such as eating at home instead of out at restaurants and limiting the amount of food one buys can absolutely be necessary.

While this can be a stressful time of uncertainty for students, there are amazing resources at CLC that can help. Located in the basement, students can stop by the share market and pick out items that they need at no charge. The share market has a variety of food and basic hygiene products such as toothpaste, deodorant, diapers, and much more. Along with that, if one is fortunate enough to have any extra products along those lines, the share market takes donations. 

During this stressful time, one can only hope for a decrease in inflation. Not only because of the effect it is having on the entire country, but specifically on the CLC community.