Three or four times a week I find myself having to drive off campus late at night to get food, and there’s really no reason for it.

I’ve got two 6:30-9:15 p.m. classes on my schedule this semester, and I’m often down on the Mount Carmel campus until at least 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m.

By the time I get back to my room on York Hill, I’m pretty hungry.

But there’s one problem: the York Hill Cafe closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays, and as early as 7 p.m. on the weekends.

That means I need to either cook late at night, or if I don’t have food I need to drive off campus.

That wouldn’t be necessary if the York Hill Cafe extended its hours to 11 p.m. on weekdays, as the Bobcat Den does on the Mount Carmel campus.

The York Hill Cafe would only be extending its time open by two hours, which isn’t much considering it’s the only place to get food on the campus.

It would make a world of difference, at least for people like me. And I’m not the only one who stays up late at night.

A study in the “Journal of Adolescent Health” from 2011 found that the average college student goes to sleep at 12:20 a.m. during weeknights.

That means on weekdays, the average student living on York Hill is expected to go over three hours without being able to eat at the school’s cafeteria?

Instead, I often have to spend my own money to buy food that is less-than-desirable in both taste and health. Most food places are closed, and sometimes fast food is the only affordable option.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, either. Junior Kyle Joyce share’s the same views, and wishes that he didn’t have to eat so much food off campus.

“We don’t always have food, and you can’t always just hop in the car and go get it,” said Joyce, a criminal justice major at Quinnipiac. “And you can’t always order Dominos every night.”

Joyce thinks that, if the York Hill Cafe was open later at night, that he would definitely head over for a meal routinely.

“After any night class and over the weekend I definitely wish the caf was open,” Joyce said. “Even if you have pasta, you aren’t going to make in on a Saturday night when you get back from Toads. It would just be much more convenient if the cafeteria up here was open longer.”

Overall, it just seems like leaving that cafeteria on York Hill open longer at night makes all the sense in the world.

For students, and for those who profit off selling the food Chartwells serves.