How are students coping with rising college costs?

By Marcus McCormic, Staff Writer

For the past four years, inflation rates have been at an all-time high, which has posed a difficult challenge for students at The Master’s University. In 2021, the rate of inflation was 7%, and has since fallen to 3.5%.

“Inflation is where we have too much money chasing too few goods,” said Dwight Ham, chairman of TMU’s business department. “We have had a big increase in the money supply in the United States over the last several years, part of which was due to COVID.”

According to Ham, there are several ways in which inflation can directly impact students, all of which involve the prices of goods that students need to function while at college.

“The cost of food, that’s been increasing over the last several years. The other one is the cost of energy, so if you’re driving an automobile… if you fly back home to see family, that’s going to impact students in that regard,” Ham said.

In the fall of 2021, one of the cheapest gas stations near TMU was United Oil with a price around $4.09. In 2024, the price of gas at that same gas station has held steady around $5.

Another development that directly impacts students is California increasing the minimum wage for fast-food places to $20 an hour. 

This issue failing to show any signs of subsiding in the near future has required students to change their spending habits and their perceptions of the money in their bank accounts.

“I think students have to look very carefully at what kind of jobs they can take on during the summer months, maybe doing internships where they’re paid,” Ham said.

Ham also has noticed an influx of students applying for scholarships to help tackle the rising tuition costs at the university.

Freshman Nathan Smith works at the Chick-fil-A in Valencia, giving him more leeway to deal with inflation than students who don’t work while in school.  But the higher than usual prices means that he has to think about how to make consumable products last longer.

“I have to think about maximizing the resources I have – that I use such as shampoo, hygiene products, food, just daily products that you need,” Smith said. 

Senior Matt Brecheen is an off-campus student whose schedule doesn’t allow for him to make money during the school year. This forces him to function off of what he makes during the summer and the breaks.

“I have to work hard in the summer to pay for certain things because I do things like theater that require a lot of extra time,” Brecheen said. “Sometimes you don’t want to buy as much because you’re like ‘oh this costs so much,’ and then you end up starving yourself in a way because you can’t nourish yourself.”

Paying for needs isn’t the only place where students have needed to make sacrifices and change their habits. 

Emma Nelson, a sophomore on the track team, found that the current prices of goods made it difficult to contribute to people’s birthdays.

“Being on the track team specifically, there are so many birthdays and there’s also the element of spending money and giving gifts, and I love giving gifts,” Nelson said. 

For her, the biggest challenge has been keeping track of what she spends so that she doesn’t get caught off guard, finding less money in her account than expected.

“I love coffee. So that’s one thing that I really had to cut back. Going out and eating is another because it’s a social event…, but that adds up. If you go to In-N-Out three times a week, you’re already down $30,” Nelson said.

For junior Jaden Ortiz, she has had to make some sacrifices to her life outside of school so that she can maintain a safe account balance.

“It’s caused me to maybe let go of some of the hobbies I would have done that would have cost money,” Ortiz said. 

Additionally, heightened prices have also caused her to change the ways in which she spends time with her friends.

“When I’m getting coffee with somebody, it’s like $8, so it’s worth spending the time with them, but it’s something that you have to think about beforehand,” Ortiz said.

Fortunately, there are positives to cutting back on spending. One of the main ones that students see as a positive is the ability to do social events that don’t require money and instead involve collaboration and personal investment.

“I’ll go thrifting with my friends, we’ll go get lunch and then go hang out at a park sometimes, just watch movies, drive around, listen to music, just find other ways to have fun without having to buy something,” Ortiz said.

In the end, while inflation continues to have its impact, the students at TMU have proven to be adaptable and innovative when it comes to navigating this economic phenomenon.