Jillian Kerney, a third-year linguistics major, commutes 50 miles up and down Highway 1 to UC Santa Cruz three days out of the week.

Not only does this allow her to keep her job in Monterey, but it also lets her avoid the struggle of hunting for an affordable apartment to rent in Santa Cruz. Kerney is able to live alongside her partner, all while saving money to attend graduate school and achieve her dream of becoming a speech therapist. 

But with her weekly gas bill having increased from $50 to $80, she feels this is yet another obstacle she faces as a commuter.

“I remember my freshman year I was sitting in McHenry Library crying, trying to figure out how to transfer schools because I hated commuting so much. It took a really long time to accept … that you do have to sacrifice some of the social aspects,” Kerney said.

She also spoke about how time management is especially challenging.

“I spend sometimes up to three hours just driving each time I need to go to school, so it’s just like balancing my job with school and homework sometimes that can get pretty difficult,” she continued.

Politics and Petroleum

After Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a critical seapassage in the Persian Gulf, higher gas prices have hit pumps across the globe. According to the International Energy Agency, nearly 25 percent of the world’s oil passes through the strait.

The blockade came after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes in Iran — calling for an end to their nuclear program — to which Iran retaliated by blocking the strait. As politicians remain at the negotiating tables, many around the world anxiously await an unblocked strait and a cheaper tank of gas.

Mark Howard, a lecturer of politics and legal studies at UCSC, commutes to the university three days a week from his family home in Lafayette, a city just outside of Oakland. His 90 mile commute to campus averages an hour and a half to two hours each way.

Howard chooses to live in this area to provide his children with a higher quality K-12 education, and to live in a more affordable housing market. But the decision isn’t without drawbacks.

“Being an adjunct … it doesn’t pay very well at all,” Howard said. “I do it to keep affiliation with the university and to get some retirement funds while I try to look for something else.” 

Howard also explained how he often chooses to drive his more reliable vehicle when making the commute because of the frequent traffic on Highway 17. According to the most recent report from Santa Cruz County Regional Commission’s Safe on 17 Task Force, there are more than two crashes per day. But the choice to take his more dependable car adds extra pain at the pump, since his Lexus requires premium gasoline.

“My wife actually went to fill up yesterday — and she didn’t fill it up all the way — but she estimated that if we’d filled the whole tank up, it would have cost us over $100,” he said.

The housing crisis in Santa Cruz and across the university also plays a role in commuters’ decision to drive.

Bella Duarte, a fifth-year network and digital technology major who commutes from Campbell, explained how housing concerns influenced her choice to live with her aunt and take a 45 minute drive to class and her part-time job, six days out of the week.

“I mean every room in Santa Cruz is almost $1,000 even if it’s a double or triple, especially if it’s a single,” Duarte said. “I wasn’t ready to pay $1,500 plus utilities.”

Kerney also explained additional obstacles she faces while trying to limit the number of days per week she spends on campus.

“As a commuter in general, you feel pretty limited with what you can do sometimes,” she said. “There’s a lot of classes that I wanted to take this quarter, but I couldn’t because I didn’t want to go up five times a week.”

Impacts Beyond the Commute

Alongside these small-scale impacts felt by student commuters, the affordability of air travel is becoming an increasingly large-scale issue. 

“The first effect that we’re feeling, right, is fuel prices,” Mark Howard said. “I’m going for this trip which I’d already booked before the [present] Iranian conflict … and I can’t afford it because what would normally be a $750 ticket was looking at something like $3,000.”

Thomas Serres, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at UCSC, explained how gas is a fundamental resource for the global economy. From fueling cars and trains to getting food on tables, the reliance on gasoline feels impenetrable. 

“If there is an emergency, it’s at the level of food production, because what is also impacted by the current blockade is the production of a set of resources that are necessary in order to grow crops,” Serres said.

As the impacts of gas prices become more widespread, Serres explains how it is important to understand that despite these difficulties, the U.S. is particularly advantaged in the global context. At the same time, Serres explains that people will become exhausted by the drastic price increases. 

“We are nonetheless in a situation of financial insecurity aggravated by our own government,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things when it comes to accessing commodity gasoline, the U.S. is in a better place. Though — as always in the U.S. — some people will benefit tremendously from this situation, and a lot of people will pay a huge price.”