Inflation: A College Guide
Story by Ian Moffet | Design by Evan Brown | Photos by Sandra Rivera
Rent. Groceries. Gas. Why is everything so damn expensive?
Around the world, prices have been increasing at a high rate since the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The International Monetary Fund says that as of August 2022, the global inflation was 7.5%. That is more than three times the average global inflation rate of 2.1% preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.
While inflation is affecting everyone, college students are taking a disproportionate hit when it comes to these price increases.
In this story, PULSE Magazine will be doing a deep dive on how inflation is affecting students, the causes behind inflation and the resources available to those affected by inflation.
Student Price Index
Dr. Yurim Lee, professor of Economics and advisor to the Economics Association and the Economics Association President, Mia Young, who is a senior studying Economics and Public Policy at CWU, discusses their Student Price Index (SPI).
The SPI project is a survey that quantifies the effect of inflation on Central Washington University students.
According to Professor Lee, the goal of the SPI project is”...to bring classroom or textbook economic concepts…into students' lives, show students that economics is actually very much related to their everyday life. And we do so by using the goods and services that students themselves typically consume, at places where students…typically go in Ellensburg.”
As president of the Economics Association, Young has done a lot to make the survey more efficient.
“My main goal is to just create a more efficient way to collect prices. And I feel we're slowly doing that over time each year, we're critiquing the way we collect it, and the way we have our price collectors collect things,” says Young.
The SPI project found that CWU college students are paying a disproportionate amount to several different goods, compared to the general American populace.
“We do see rent prices being generally higher than similar sized cities. So all in all, we see a higher portion of income going towards housing,” Lee says. “Of course, a big chunk of their income also goes to tuition and school supplies. Certain goods that they consume… let’s say their groceries also vary compared to the general American population's grocery basket.”
According to the December 2022 SPI update, CWU students annual cost of living rate increased 6.8% compared to 6.5% for the general populace of the United States.
27.1% of that cost of living increase for the average CWU student was due to groceries alone, while 13.8% was due to housing.
Housing
As many students know, housing prices have been a main contributor to the cost of living increases among CWU students according to the SPI project.
Habitat for Humanity is an organization that specializes in creating houses for families. According to Kelle Vanderman, area director of Kittitas County’s Habitat for Humanity, the current scarcity for houses in Ellensburg overlaps with the student rental market.
“We're not keeping up with demand in the rental market either. So it's not just about home ownership, it's in the rental market, which directly affects our student population,” Vandenberg says.
Amey Ayling, Development Director for the city of Ellensburg adds on to this sentiment from the city of Ellensburg’s point of view.
“Although the City doesn’t specifically track rental price increases one can speculate that the higher the price of housing will have a direct correlation to higher rental prices,” Ayling says. “With less people being able to afford a home to purchase, there are more renters in the market creating a competition and inflated rental costs for available rental units.”
According to the SPI project, as of December of 2022, housing accounted for 43% of the average CWU students total spending.
“I know that…there are apartments that are going for… $4000. And the idea is that you rent for students $1000 a piece…how does a student afford that?’” Vandenberg says.
“If you can’t afford to live where you wanna go to school, that’s a problem. And it affects the community… As an alumni these things matter a lot to me. I wanna make sure we have a healthy community for everybody,” Vandenberg continues.
Due to high inflation and rent, some students have had to take on two jobs to make ends meet.
Madison VanRavenHorst, a senior at CWU studying public relations and the online editor of The Observer spoke about her experience working two jobs.
“My rent has gone up a full $100 since last year, and it would have gone up more except that I signed my lease a year in advance. So if it weren't for inflation, increasing rent prices and cost of living,I could probably get away with 20 hours,” VanRavenHorst says.
For students like VanRavenHorst, a second job is a necessity to manage the recent cost of living increases.
VanRavenHorst explained that it would be extremely difficult to make ends meet without two jobs.
“I wouldn't be able to pay my rent, buy food or pay for gas. Likely my tuition would probably be extremely difficult to come by, so I think that it would change pretty much everything. I probably wouldn't be in college without two jobs,” VanRavenHorst says.
Just How Bad Is It?
“According to a recent report by the Washington State Achievement Council (WSAC) the south central region of the state, where Ellensburg is located, faces the highest basic needs insecurity of any of the regions across the state. 58% of students in the south central region face basic need insecurities,” says Adán Jr. Mendoza- Sandoval, a 5th year student at CWU studying Economics and Political Science. He is also the Vice-President of the Washington Student Association (WSA). The WSA is a nonpartisan group that lobbies the state government to support legislation that helps students in higher education.
The WSAC is a state-level agency that aims to foster educational attainment. The WSAC found that students experienced high rates of basic needs insecurity in all regions of the state.
According to WSAC, “...less than half of students experiencing insecurity accessed basic needs support resources in the last 6 months.”
“I've heard multiple stories from students from low income, it could be high income students too, that simply don’t have support from parents,” says Mendoza-Sandoval.
Discussing why high inflation is happening and who it affects is important. But what exactly is the reason for the inflation we are seeing today?
Dr. Yurim Lee, professor of Economics explains the root causes of inflation can be boiled down to a familiar concept you might have heard of: Supply and Demand.
Supply and Demand
Demand reason #1: Consumer Behavior
People want to buy goods in this economy, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer behavior is one of the main parts of the demand side to this high inflation equation.
“People are cooped up. So once that barrier is gone people want to go back to spending as much as before,” says Lee.
Consumer behavior has changed since the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic when it comes to spending goods. Whether it be eating out or traveling, people want to do things that cost money.
“Your demand for all these different goods will rise and has been rising such as eating out or shopping..there has been a surge in demand because our fundamentals haven’t changed,” Lee says.
Demand reason #2: The labor market
Good news, America has a low unemployment rate. Bad news, that’s one reason we have high inflation.
When it comes to the demand side of the reason behind high inflation rates, employment plays a big factor.
“So a lot of people are employed in this particular economy, which means you have people with wages or salary money that they can use to consume more than before,”Lee says.
More workers are becoming less complacent with their jobs. In 2022, the economy experienced a phenomenon called the Great Resignation, where workers are leaving jobs at a much higher rate than before due to more job options in the market.
“Because there are less unemployed workers…firms have to fight for unemployed workers in order to fill their vacancies. Because it’s harder, they have to offer higher wages, which works as a positive for workers,” Lee says.
Supply reason #1: Supply chains
If you keep up with the news you may have heard that our supply chains have been disrupted. You may have seen news articles of congested cargo ships off of California. What does all of that mean? What exactly is a supply chain? According to the financial publication, Investopedia, a supply chain is, “...a network of individuals and companies who are involved in creating a product and delivering it to the consumer…a supply chain includes every step that is involved in getting a finished product or service to the customer. The steps may include sourcing raw materials, moving them to production, then transporting the finished products to a distribution center or retail store where they may be delivered to the consumer.”
The COVID-19 pandemic halted many supply chains for many different products. This still affects the global economy to this day.
“So people want all these goods and services we can’t supply as much. So that's also putting a strain on prices,” says Lee.
Based on Lee’s explanation, it is safe to say that supply chains are essential in getting the goods consumers demand to them.
Supply reason #2: The war in Ukraine
You may have noticed you're spending more money to fill up your gas tank. You may have also noticed the rising prices of certain foods. The Ukraine war has been a key component in price increases for both certain foods and gas.
On February 24, 2022 Russia invaded the country of Ukraine. This war has had a domino effect on the globalized economy.
“There is the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, which also led to a lot of commodity prices going up. Really basic things like grain [and] sugar, to of course, price of gas, which also leads to all of these different goods that are made with these intermediate goods rise as well. If the price of flour and sugar is going up, then the price of bread will go up…So combined, you have higher demand, lower supply-prices surge,” Lee says.
At the end of the day, What is being done for students?
Mendoza-Sandoval explains that there are several state bills being voted on that can help ease the burden of inflation on students.
One such bill is the Basic Needs and Security Act, a proposed legislation that would aim to “...provide and create hunger free (college) campus(es),” Mendoza-Sandoval says.
“ A student is not successful… if they’re hungry. A student can’t properly study if they’re hungry…so the Basic Needs and Security Act focuses on how we help students succeed once they’re in college,” Mendoza-sandoval continues.
Key provisions of this bill would make it easier for students to access already available resources.
“This bill will implement policies on all 4-year and 2- year [college] institutions by making sure that there are navigators on campuses that create statewide task forces by creating eligible food options for students.,” Mendoza-Sandoval continues.
Local Resource: Wildcat Pantry
Most students at CWU have heard about the Wildcat Pantry. The Wildcat Pantry is an available resource to students that provides free food items and hygiene products.
As we’ve learned inflation and basic needs insecurities are disproportionately affecting college students especially in the south central region of the state and at CWU specifically. Wildcat Pantry is an available resource to students to help mitigate the cost of living increases, especially food insecurity.
“Food insecurity can be… I have nothing to eat at all ever…(or) also be,’I don’t have time to…grab something nourishing to eat, I just have to eat fast food or I can only eat stuff on the meal plan,” Matthew Braganza, senior accounting major at CWU, as well as a lead officer for the Wildcat Pantry says.
Wildcat Pantry aims to make students comfortable with taking resources available to them.
“A big focus of pushing the Wildcat pantry as a whole is destigmatizing the use of the
Pantry,” Braganza says. “You're a student, and sometimes we all fall on hard times, sometimes you don't have the time to… get something to cook all the time, you don't have time to go get groceries…even some students…have never bought groceries for themselves when they first come on campus.”
Braganza encourages students to take advantage of what resources like Wildcat Pantry has to offer.
“If you're reading this…I would say, tell your friends about it. You never know who needs those kinds of resources…even if you don't use it yourself…you may know somebody who does need it and just doesn't know how to speak up and talk about it,” Braganza says.
Rep. Kim Schrier answers questions on inflation
Ian Moffet
PULSE Reporter
A recent report by the Washington State Achievement Council found that nearly 1 in 10 Washington State college students have experienced homelessness. The south-central region of the state, which encompasses much of Rep. Kim Schrier’s district, has the highest basic needs insecurities among college students in the state (58%), according to the report.
Rep. Schrier’s office responded to a few questions about how inflation is impacting college students, among others, and what can be done about it.
What are some of the reasons behind high inflation in the US, as well as around the world?
Inflation has been a worldwide phenomenon. There are a lot of factors that have contributed to this, but the pandemic, the tangled international supply chains, and corporate price gouging are three major contributors.
Are there any federal programs the average college student should be aware of to help them deal with these cost-of-living increases?
Financial aid for housing often comes through FAFSA. Rep. Schrier has supported the FAFSA Simplification Act, which passed on Dec. 27, 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. This has many small but important fixes, including:
Streamlining the FAFSA form so more students complete it.
Linking Pell eligibility to family size and the federal poverty level, broadening the pool of eligible applicants. This starts next year.
Rep. Schrier has also supported the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act that expands the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit as part of the to create more than 66,000 units of affordable housing in WA state.
This year in the Farm Bill, I am working to make sure that all higher education students are eligible for SNAP benefits.
What legislation has Rep. Schrier supported that reduces the effects of inflation on the average citizen?
Ocean Shipping Reform Act (signed into law) – untangle international supply chains and provide support to U.S. exporters, like many we have in the 8th District. This helps resolve the supply and demand imbalance that contributes to shortages and higher prices. · Inflation Reduction Act (signed into law)– to bring down prescription drug costs and invest in clean energy solutions that will make us less reliant on gas/oil in the future. This bill also capped insulin at $35/bottle for Medicare recipients. · American Rescue Plan (signed into law)– reduced health care premiums and implemented temporary child tax credit that reduced child poverty by 50% and helped almost 80% of families in our district. · Gas Prices Relief Act -- to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax and bring down costs at the gas pump. · Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Act – to give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) more tools to hold corporations who are price gouging accountable.
Has Rep. Schrier supported any legislation that specifically aims to help younger people, college students, etc nationwide deal with the increase in cost of living/inflation?
She introduced the Tax Credit for Student Parents Act last Congress
This legislation ensures all student parents who are working to get a post-secondary degree, including vocational school and two and four-year universities, are eligible to receive the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which helps to offset working families’ childcare expenses.
Right now, 22% of university undergraduate students, about 4 million people, are parents.
For many student parents, childcare costs are a barrier to pursuing post-high school education. By making student parents eligible for the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, we will lower the cost of childcare for families needing a boost and make sure parents can afford childcare while they get their degree. · Rep. Schrier has also introduced the bipartisan Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act to help students who received Pell Grants during their undergraduate degree utilize their remaining Pell eligibility towards their first year of graduate school.
Anything else?
Broadly I would like to say that I understand that it has been a difficult few years for people in this district and across the country. I applaud the students at CWU for continuing with their education, often as non-traditional students. Please know that in Congress I have been working and will continue to work on bringing down costs of things like prescription drugs, gas, and groceries. And will not let large corporations get away with price gouging at the expense of American families.
I am here to serve you. To keep up with how I am serving you, please follow me on social media, sign up for my newsletter, and attend future town halls.
The Q&A has been edited for clarity and flow.