Stereotypically, college students use spring break as an excuse to travel south for sand, swimming and sun.But this year, due to the economy and other concerns, Lipscomb students are looking at different options to fill that one-week break before buckling down for the home stretch toward finals.
“I was going to go to Florida with some friends,” explains Alli Arms, a senior psychology major from Murfreesboro, Tenn. “But the economy has impacted my family greatly the last three years. A couple hundred bucks for spring break wasn’t an option.”
Arms is hardly alone. However, she is making the best of it by using the break to teach a high school psychology class, which she sees as a great chance for experience for her future.
Another student whose more adventurous plans were curtailed by the economy and gas prices, Lindsay Lamparyk, a freshman fashion merchandising major, is headed home.
Back among her friends and family in Cleveland, Ohio, she’ll enjoy their company and take part in the big St. Patty’s Day festivities downtown.
The rapidly increasing gas prices have not made traveling of any easier either.
According to the Energy Information Administration’s website, gasoline prices are due to increase 13.4 percent from last year.
“I found an upperclassman that is going to drive me to Columbus, and a friend will pick me up from there,” Lamparyk said.
Even those who were able to fly to their destinations still see the effect the increased fuel and ticket prices has on their friends.
“My friends cannot go on spring break,” said Joey Chiapetta, a freshman exercise science major from New Berlin, Wis. “They have to partially pay for school.”
Economic troubles are even on the minds of those who have destination breaks planned.
DeJuan Muzzy, a freshman history major from Chicago, Ill., is headed to Miami with a group of friends, but he emphasizes that if he wasn’t receiving free accommodations from his dad’s cousin, spring break would most likely not be an option.
“Everyone was short on money,” said Muzzy. “My parents told me to save up money for the gas and food.”
With the crisis in the Middle East and North Africa, gas and airplane fuel prices are expected to continue to rise, so the need to make sensible choices will continue past spring break and of course into Summer.