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Geography 340

Economic Geography - Travel Cost Calculator

Image: Flag of California

Student Travel Cost Calculator

This calculator was designed to help students better estimate the cost of attending California State University, Northridge. On a campus like ours where many students commute in daily to take courses, and the cost of fuel has risen dramatically, so to has the cost of going to college.

Carpooling is a good means to avoid incurring a signficant fuel cost. Online courses may help as well, especially if you are a great distance and commuting time removes you from otherwise productive work, like a part-time or full-time job. This latter cost is your opportunity cost. It's always worth considering how much your time is worth, in addition to the costs associated with fueling your car.

In the future, we'll add a carbon footprint, so you can begin to estimate the external costs of commuting...you don't pay, but everyone else does.

Steps: If you don't alredy know how far you commute one way to campus, use the Google Map function embedded below to figure it out. Type in the address from which you commute and the map will calculate the distance you must drive, plus estimate the time it will take. Make a note of this information and place it in the appropriate response box below.

Map

Instructions: Click once on the icon below. A dialog bubble will open. Click on the To here link in the bubble. Enter your street address and click on the Go button. A a new window will launch, providing you with turn-by-turn directions to campus, plus an estimate of the distance you and the time it will take. Enter the distance in step 1 below and the time in step 6 below.


View Larger Map

 

Student Cost Calculator

Travel Cost Calculator
Step Suggestions Data Entry Totals
1 Enter the distance you drive one way to campus. If you don't know, use the map above.
2 Enter 2, 3 or 5
4 20 MPG is the average for cars in 2008 in gallons
5 Cost of fuel in dollars per gallon:
6 Enter the amount of time it takes you on average to get to campus. If you don't know use the map function above.
7 Enter the amount of money you make at a job (or would make if you were not spending time commuting)
$8.00 is the Los Angeles standard for a living wage
7 15 weeks is standard
8 Click the button below to calculate semester costs. in gallons
 

If you make a mistake or want to change a value, make sure to re-enter the values from the top and press tab to move through the subsequent boxes. This calculator works only in a sequential fashion, so you must complete (or redo) the first calculations first, or subsequent calculations will produce errors. Clear the data by clicking the button below.

Some Concluding Remarks:

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