College students rejoice: The 99-cent burger that mainstay of dining on a budget is back with a vengeance at America’s fast-food restaurants. And while the low price makes little marketing sense, the industry is in such bad shape right now that cheap eats should be the rule for years to come.

Truth is, fast-food joints hate to sell sandwiches for a dollar, and for much of the past decade McDonald’s and Burger King have been vowing to end the Burger Wars and raise prices to more rational levels. But every time, they blink. And before you know it, store managers are up on ladders by the menu boards, holding a fistful of 9s.

Now, the biggest chains are moving to make dollar deals a lasting part of the menu. Wendy’s Super Value Menu long has offered chili, burgers and other artery-clogging goodies for 99 cents not as a promotional gimmick, but as part of the permanent menu. Following that lead, McDonald’s now has Mickey D’s Dollar Menu, with sandwiches and sides for an even buck. In some regions, Burger King has the BK Value Menu for a penny less.

So what is possessing America’s burger joints to keep selling food at disco-era prices? Ironically, the blame starts with Taco Bell.

At the end of the 1980s, upstart Taco Bell put most of its menu at three rock-bottom prices 59 cents, 79 cents and 99 cents and pledged to keep them there for five years.

With Taco Bell’s nationwide presence, it wasn’t long before McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s had to go south of the $1 border, as well.

And the 99-cent Burger Wars began.

A dozen years later, the fast-feeders have learned that wars are easier to start than to finish. The federal minimum wage has gone up four times since the wars began. Five years ago, Brandweek magazine reported on an alleged truce in the price wars, saying the chains “can’t afford a low-price bandwagon anymore.”

But the 99-cent burger endures.

“They’re not losing money at 99 cents, but they’re not making as much as they’d like,” said Christopher C. Muller, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen School of Hospitality Management.