America's Money: Gas crunch hits home

Teacher and law student, 42, Port. St. Lucie, Fla.

Two and a half years ago -- when gas was $2 a gallon -- I retired from my job as a master deputy sheriff to attend law school.

I took a job that paid 35% less, and my law school was located 135 miles away. That's a round trip of 270 miles a day.

That was costing me $200 a week -- which hurt -- but I could afford it. Now I'm paying $500 a week, and I am 75% completed with my classes.

I either have to choose to quit law school in my third year and owe $35,000 in student loans with nothing to show for it, or lose my home and much of my life and complete law school, hoping to get a good paying legal job in 18 months and recoup my losses in the long term.

I never planned for gas to hit over $3 a gallon, much less over $4 or $5 a gallon. Nobody like me expected gas to double or nearly triple in just two years.

NEXT: Rocky Smith: Rural family takes hit