With little time to spare and a food craving before an afternoon class, a student can pick up a piece of pizza from the Pizza Hut at the Kansas Union Market.

If that doesn’t sound appetizing, a visit to Wescoe Terrace for a simple mid-morning snack might make more sense.

But what about when students straggle off campus?

“I usually try to eat at home, but whether I’m on campus or off, I’ll usually pick up something fast because I have so much stuff to do,” Overland Park senior Jerald Cook said.

“It might not be the healthiest of food, but the time factor and ability to eat it on the go is my top priority.”

Dining on the drive seems common for most college students.

“It’s a matter of convenience,” said J.J. Hensley, a senior from Tulsa, Okla., on why students seem to savor food made fast. “There’s just not a lot of time in a college kid’s life to spend on cooking.”

Money, either.

“I think a lot of kids think getting a couple of more specialty items at a fast food place, like 99-cent hamburgers is cheaper and will fill them up more,” said Jill Hellige, who works at Wescoe Terrace.

“But I would also have to agree that the time element might be most people’s chief concern.”

How about health?

Hensley said he had drastically cut back on the fast food days of his freshman and sophomore years in an attempt to eat healthier.

“It’s pretty expensive to constantly eat fast food,” Hensley said. “But more importantly, I started thinking about all that fast food and felt that I was really putting a lot of artificial substances in my body.

“I still have cravings to eat fast food and will do it occasionally, but I’d rather spend my money drinking beer than on fast food.”

While drastic amounts of either substance may prove harmful to a student’s lifestyle, the fast food scene — like the bars — can also be a setting for social gatherings.

Matt Brane, manager of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop, 922 Mass., said he always saw college students in his shop.

“I think obviously they want something good to eat, first and foremost,” Brane said. “Then they want to get it fast and not have to pay a lot, but often times they’ll sit down and talk while they eat.

“It’s a pretty simple formula, and I think that’s why places like ours are successful with college students.”

Cook agreed.

“I want to get in and out, get something to eat and be on my way,” he said.