We can rephrase the given information by saying that each of the seven students paid \3.71$and some of the students paid an extra$\$0.01$. Since 7 \times \3.71=\$25.97$ and the pizza cost \26.00$in total, then the students who paid the extra$\$0.01$ each must make up the final \0.03$of the cost of the pizza. Therefore, 3 students each paid an additional$\$0.01$ and so paid \3.72$ in total.