As Memorial Day nears, pump prices still a pain for everyone - Grant Welker, Herald News

The impact can be felt directly at places like Bristol Community College’s Fall River campus, where thousands of students, many with limited budgets, commute for classes. Dayna Butts, a 19-year-old business administration student from Brockton, now takes most of her classes online to avoid a 40-mile round-trip to Fall River. She commutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and stays home for classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s the best she can do to avoid putting more miles on her Jeep Cherokee, which she spends $100 a week to fill. Finding the cheapest gas isn’t always an option. “I try to, but it can be wasting gas to get there, so sometimes I just go to what’s closest,” Butts said. She also tries consolidating trips, but other suggested methods — like not exceeding the speed limit on highways — not so much. “I’m not going to drive, like, 60 and have people passing me,” she said with a laugh. Other students, like Hadeer Mohamed of Fall River, find avoiding miles almost impossible. Mohamed is a medical laboratory science student who can’t avoid making trips for his clinical studies at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford.