Students can lower the price of filling their tanks by choosing the self-serve pumps, he said.
Prices might drop if the industry cannot sell gas at the higher prices, Charlie Guyer, manager at State College Texaco, 1310 S. Atherton St., said.
Rising prices have caused speculation and concern across State College.
Customers comment right away when prices rise, Guyer said.
"They want to know why," he said. "I've been here 20-some years, [and I think] the media has a lot to do with it -- talking about the war. That's my idea."
Burke said he has heard few comments about rising prices from his customers.
Students already on tight budgets are affected by the price increases.
"Obviously, I'm very unhappy about [rising prices]," Jonathan Lin, (sophomore-management science and information systems) said. "I remember a couple of weeks before I started driving. [Prices] were like 99 cents a gallon," he said.
Lin is from New Jersey, where he said gas prices are about the same as they are around Penn State.
To avoid the expense, Lin drives less when he's in State College, he said.
No matter how students avoid paying too much for transportation, they cannot always blame rising prices on the local businesses.
The Kwik Fill corporate office in Warren, Pa., is ultimately responsible for deciding the gas prices at the State College branch, said Jon Wilson, manager of Kwik Fill, 2146 E. College Ave.
"I do a survey of competitors' [prices] once a week or more," Wilson said.
The corporate office considers factors, including the results of those surveys, international politics and the current cost per barrel for gas, when determining the local prices, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
