By Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer|July 31, 2008
This may be one summer when students can't wait to get back to school, just to be reminded that they aren't adults yet.
Across the U.S., the gasoline price crunch has forced more students to look for work and put in serious hours, griping about how little they earn. More teens have been carrying credit cards, but without much joy because the plastic has been devoted to covering their fuelishness. Some college students have shifted into a new worry gear: how to pay for the gas on top of the books.
And if all that weren't bad enough, some of the most important rites of the season -- family outings, trips to the beach and just hanging out with friends -- have been sacrificed to the budget gods.
Gasoline has become the No. 1 credit card purchase for teens, according to a small sampling of young people conducted by Junior Achievement. In fact, gas knocked apparel out of the top spot for the first time in the nine years that Junior Achievement has been asking about teen spending habits.
"Gasoline is really taking a bite out of what these kids are making," said Stephanie Bell, director of marketing and media relations for Junior Achievement, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. "They are going to have to go on a budget just like the rest of us, and that's a painful lesson to learn."
Although gasoline prices have been easing, they remain substantially higher than they were at this time last year. On Wednesday, a gallon of self-serve regular gas sold for an average of $3.93 nationwide, compared with $2.89 a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Assn. In California, the average pump price was $4.29, compared with $3.07 a year earlier.
For the five-member McGinn family of Castaic, this has been the summer of fun rationing.
In the olden days of last summer, the whole family would have climbed into the big Ford Expedition and driven up to see Davis McGinn, 13, play the left mid position in an American Youth Soccer Organization game recently held in Santa Barbara.
Not this time.
Father Fred drove Davis to the game in a small pickup truck, and the rest of the family stayed home.
"My mom couldn't see how much I've improved. That bothered me," said Davis, who said he hoped gas prices would fall soon "so parents can enjoy going out more with their kids."
The first clue for the McGinn children that this would be an unusual summer came on Memorial Day weekend. A big soccer tournament had been scheduled in San Diego, something that the family ordinarily would have looked forward to attending.
