By Alicia Colegrove

As the war in Iran enters its fourth week and national fuel costs rise, commuter students at the University of Maryland strategize to tackle high gas prices.

The price of gas in Prince George’s County reached an average of about $4 on Wednesday, March 26, over a dollar more than Maryland’s average a month ago, according to AAA. The increase is partially due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway in the Middle East that borders Iran and carries 20% of the world’s overseas crude oil, a key component of gasoline.

UMD has five parking lots dedicated to its commuter students, many of whom rely on commuting for personal and financial reasons.

Sofia Creitz, a junior operations management and business analytics and supply chain management major, said she never really considered living at UMD. 

“I wanted to spend more time with my family,” Creitz said. “When I started college, my youngest brother was only 2 years old, so I wanted to make sure I was going to be a part of his life.”

Creitz is from Rockville, a commute she says takes 30 minutes on a good day, but often longer due to traffic. She said she’s had to endure the cost of rising gas prices due to the inconvenience of public transportation.

“As of right now, with the distance of the College Park Metro to the school, it just doesn’t make sense for me,” Creitz said.

Throughout her years of commuting, Creitz said she learned that independent gas stations farther from the university are often cheaper. 

“The more off-brand, the better,” Creitz said. 

Freshman criminology and criminal justice major Janiella Datin said she uses loyalty points and rewards to mitigate rising gas prices. 

“At 7-Eleven, you get seven cents off a gallon if you put your number in, stuff like that,” Datin said. “I want to save as much money as possible.”

Datin said that commuting is worth it in the long run because she’s saving money that would be spent on university housing. But as a college student and amid rising prices, she said she doesn’t like paying for gas. 

“I don’t like getting gas, but now I don’t want to get gas at all,” Datin said. “I have to go out of my way to find the cheapest one possible.”

For Caleb Winters, a junior journalism major, higher gas prices mean a tighter budget and a longer mental checklist. 

“It’s affected me mentally in the sense that it puts another burden on my shoulders,” Winters said. 

Winters works part-time as a package handler at FedEx. He said that as a student, he has to keep a budget, but the money he’s set aside for gas hasn’t been enough. 

“Now I have to move more money around and work more to just replenish that money and make sure I’m OK,” Winters said. 

Winters said he wants to make sure he doesn’t have to rely on his parents for gas money amid rising costs. 

“My parents work really hard to provide for my family, and I want to do my part in providing for myself,” Winters said. 

Commuter students often have to worry about things that non-commuting students don’t, Winters said. He said he felt like commuters live in a different world from people who live on campus. 

“The burden of making sure everything is paid for, making sure everything is paid on time, and just budgeting correctly,” Winters said. “It looks different, for not just every commuter student, but commuter students compared to students who do not commute.”

Featured Image: Cars parked in Stadium Drive Garage, which is designated as a commuter parking lot, on March 28, 2026. Photo by Anika Stikeleather.