Like many Creighton students, freshman Antoine Young is struggling to pay the high cost of gas.

Young, a men’s basketball signee, has become increasingly familiar with the nation’s higher gas prices. Young commutes from Bellevue to downtown Omaha five days a week to attend summer workouts at his new school. Young spends more than 40 minutes a day on the road.

“I have no problem driving, but when I look at my tank and see I need to buy gas again, it’s really stressful,” Young said.

He finds it hard sometimes to spend so much money on gas because there are so many other things he wants to do. He knows he needs to budget or else he would not be able to go where he needs to go.

After every workout, he used to stop at McDonald’s. Now he just drives home and fixes himself something to eat.

“It’s hard not getting your favorite food after a hard workout, but I just have to deal with it – that’s a part of growing up,” Young said.

Young drives a 2005 Mitsubishi that takes $40 to fill up, which adds up to more than $160 a month. As an unemployed teenager, that can be hard keep up with. Young usually finds money from doing extra work. For example, he spent two weeks working at the College World Series. Another tactic is to ask his parents. Young finds that if he has no money he his parents kindly understand.

The national average price for gas is $4.05 per gallon. In Nebraska, the average is around $3.78 per gallon. One of the main reasons for the increasing cost of gas is the global demand for oil. India and China, both countries that have more population than the U.S., have a growing need for oil. A barrel of oil costs approximately $136, more than double the price for oil two years ago. Rose White, a spokeswoman for AAA, said while gas prices rise, car accidents have dropped by 30 percent.

“You can always look at the positive – more lives are being saved because of the higher price of gas,” White said.

Drivers can save gas if they change their driving habits, she said.

Avoiding hard braking and rapid acceleration can save up to 10 percent. Driving between 55 to 65 mph on freeways also can help save gas.

“My personal favorite is to take roadways with less traffic even if they are longer drives you can still save gas in the long run by driving at a good driving pace. This minimizes stop and go effect in traffic,” White said.