‘‘Three weeks ago we were adding up the numbers,” Ariel said. ‘‘We realized that each of us would have to have at least $2,000.”

Although Greenspoon was disappointed, she was not surprised. High gas prices and tight family budgets, she said, have become a worry for many peers.

High school students who have always been the first to celebrate new driving privileges, have now become reluctant to empty their wallets into their gas tanks. Some try to avoid driving altogether. Others go online to scout for the lowest gas prices. Teens say they are now more likely to carpool and spend money on gas rather than at the mall.

‘‘It’s been more of a hassle deciding who is going to drive,” Ariel said. ‘‘It has affected us socially - instead of going out, we are going to each other’s houses.”

Rachel Michael, a senior at Frederick High School, said many of her friends don’t drive so they don’t have to pay for gas.

She has limited her own driving and stopped picking up friends on the way to school. And she had to get a part-time job at the Sports Plaza in Frederick so she can pay for her gas and insurance. But even a part-time job isn’t enough to help keep Rachel’s Buick, which gets 17 miles per gallon, filled. She has started dipping into her savings, she said, just to pay for gas.

‘‘I make $200 every two weeks,” she said. ‘‘It usually goes in my gas tank.”

Dealing with the hike in gas is especially difficult for seniors, who are trying to save for college, said Board of Education student representative Neha Kapoor, a senior at Frederick High. To save on gas, Neha and her friends carpool and split the money for gas.

‘‘Everyone is looking for scholarships and trying to put money away,” Neha said. ‘‘Before, a lot of us would consider commuting to college. That’s out of the question now.”

The concern about gas prices is even driving students’ choices for summer jobs. Nancy Hennessey, a mother of two and an Urbana resident, said her 16-year-old daughter is searching for a summer job specifically in Urbana so she doesn’t have to drive far to work.

‘‘She is very conscious of this,” Hennessey said. ‘‘I don’t think this was ever an issue for her older sister.”

College students, who also tend to drive older cars, are also making adjustments to their driving habits. Kristen Hellers, a sophomore at Hood College who commutes from New Market, has started staying on campus between classes. With gas prices projected to go up even higher in the summer, college students have become more eager to get paid jobs rather than unpaid internships, Hellers said.

‘‘I know a lot of people who got a job before spring break,” said Hellers, who has already found a paying job for the summer. ‘‘I don’t think we are going to be the ‘On the Road’ generation because we can’t afford it.”

For Ariel Greenspoon summer will mean staying at a friend’s house in Ocean City rather than driving to California.

‘‘I wanted to do the road trip because my brother did it when he graduated,” she said. ‘‘But six years ago the prices of gas were different. ... The farthest I’ll go this summer will probably be New York City.”