Perhaps it is an effort to counter those dense ideas they are force-fed in high school and college with something light and refreshingly mindless. What, for instance, could be less taxing after poring over the philosophy of Michel Foucault than a bowl of Lucky Charms?

Whatever the reason, students these days are consuming breakfast cereal as if their grade-point averages depended on it -- for breakfast, yes, but also for lunch, dinner and in between.

''My hallmates have boxes and boxes of cereal in their rooms,'' said Chloé Charlet, a freshman from Belgium at the University of Pennsylvania. ''They live off it.''

While affection for cereal among the young is certainly not new, anecdotal evidence suggests that they are eating it like never before, and industry analysts say that such pervasive consumption by teenagers and young adults makes that age group one of the strongest markets for manufacturers. While their parents' generation may be shunning carbohydrates as part of the Atkins diet phenomenon, young people are devouring almost as much cereal as elementary-school children.

Perhaps it was inevitable that someone would capitalize on that appetite by taking the simple ritual of eating cereal in the home -- or dorm room -- out into the world. A new restaurant called Cereality Cereal Bar and Cafe is scheduled to open at the end of this month on the University of Pennsylvania campus, with a menu of more than 30 cereals and even more toppings served by pajama-clad ''cereologists'' in a setting of comfy chairs and farmhouse tables.

''When we went out to do our initial research it was clear that college kids were getting tired of typical institutional food service and were looking for more branded and hip concepts,'' said David Roth, a co-founder and the president of Cereality, which is based in Boulder, Colo. ''Cereal was a staple of their diets, and they would eat it at different times of day.''

The ultimate dumbing down of the dining experience? Maybe. But the dawn of cereal restaurants -- the Cereality at Arizona State University is hopping -- is a sure sign of young people's strange love affair with cereal, and not just for breakfast.

In fact, especially among teenagers, cereal seems to be losing its association with the first meal of the day -- a testament perhaps to their rudimentary food-preparation skills, to their widely acknowledged ''munchies,'' sometimes caused by smoking pot, as well as to their nostalgia for childhood.

According to ACNielsen, a marketing research firm, households with children ages 13 to 17 accounted for 25 percent of all the money spent on cold cereal in 2003 -- a disproportionately large share given their size in the overall population.

Another company that follows national eating trends, NPD Foodworld in Chicago, reports that the biggest cereal consumers last year were children between the ages of 6 and 12, with 87 percent of survey participants in that age group eating cereal at least once every two weeks. But the teenage population (ages 13 to 17) was close behind, at 80 percent.

While NPD Foodworld does not specifically break out college-age consumers, anecdotal evidence of cereal's popularity on campuses abounds.

College officials who oversee food services say they are constantly restocking sweet, kid-friendly cereals. Nick Mennillo, the senior director of dining services for the State University of New York at Purchase, said he offered a few sugary options, as well as two ''health cereals'' like granola or Raisin Bran.

''The most popular one is Cap'n Crunch, by far,'' he said. ''And if you put Cocoa Puffs and Fruity Pebbles out, they fly through the stuff.''
Students who live off campus and who must cook or forage for themselves say they are drawn to cereal because it is cheap and easy. Those with prepaid meal plans say they turn to cereal as a hedge against uncertain dining hall offerings.

Most colleges keep several kinds of cereal, including childhood favorites, out at all times in large help-yourself bins.

''You know that Cap'n Crunch is going to taste like Cap'n Crunch,'' explained Chris Zelles, a senior at Manhattanville College in Westchester County. ''It's a definite thing, whereas the pork roast could be iffy.''

Still other students, who might be experiencing the stress and alienation of living on their own for the first time, argue that a bowl of sugary cereal has a way of evoking cozy images of home and childhood.

''It's some kind of Freudian childhood regression thing,'' said Matthew Lynch, a sophomore at the SUNY-Purchase who favors Froot Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. ''It's a comfort mechanism. I remember eating cereal in the mornings with my dad and brother before kindergarten and first grade.''Industry officials are pleased, of course, that teenagers show such fierce brand loyalty for cereals often associated with early childhood.

''I don't think you can ever outgrow the taste of something you love,'' said Mary Dillon, president of Quaker Foods, which makes Cap'n Crunch.

Cereal seems to push a number of psychological buttons for high school students, too. Perhaps it serves as a sweet escape -- an ice cream substitute -- for young people who are feeling anxious about a post-9/11 world, with periodic terror alerts and the rumblings of a faraway war.

Erica Roselle, a sophomore at White Plains High School, said she ate four big bowls a day, alternating between Froot Loops and Trix. ''When you're hungry, you just put it in the bowl and put the milk in and go watch TV and everything's O.K.,'' she said. ''You know how when you're depressed, you eat ice cream? Well, I eat cereal like that.''

Erica, who is such a fan of Trix that she plans to have a denim jacket airbrushed with the logo, said that cereal was sometimes the centerpiece at get-togethers with friends. ''When I go to my friends' houses, we sit around and eat cereal -- that's what we do,'' she said.

Many nutritionists caution against eating large amounts of breakfast cereal and some criticize colleges for making it available for lunch and dinner. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University, said that breakfast cereals marketed to children offered ''an excuse to eat candy.''

''If you have sweet things around all the time, then people are going to eat them,'' Professor Nestle said. ''It's asking far too much of late adolescents to exercise that kind of choice. It's no wonder kids gain 15 pounds their first year.''

Mr. Mennillo of SUNY-Purchase countered that students were old enough to decide what to put in their mouths. ''College students are not children anymore, and they are supposed to be here to make choices as adults,'' he said. ''We give them the choice of eating brussels sprouts or squash or cereal.''

But even some students say there are signs that their classmates are not eating right. Keveney McCrillis, a sophomore and resident assistant at Manhattanville, believes excessive cereal consumption is taking a toll on the energy level of students in her dormitory.
''I already see the freshmen lull -- students dragging their feet, taking naps, getting sick,'' she said. ''I'll suggest that they go eat some protein and they come back and say they feel better.''
Ms. McCrillis admits that she, too, will sometimes resort to an all-cereal lineup for dinner, if nothing else catches her eye. She chooses a healthier cereal for the main course, followed by, say, Lucky Charms for dessert. ''I do that, too!'' exclaimed her friend Stephanie Dignan, a sophomore, who was standing next to Ms. McCrillis on the college green.

Mr. Roth of Cereality makes no claims for the healthfulness of his restaurant's offerings, which include toppings like marshmallows and M&M's, along with high-minded ones like dried apricots and pecans.

''I would never say that eating sugary cereals is a healthy thing,'' he said. ''I'm not interested in changing people's cereal-eating habits. We're giving it to them on their own terms and in an experiential setting.''

Cereality's restaurant at the University of Pennsylvania will also offer seven milk options, from soy to strawberry. ''You can be as healthy or as indulgent as you want,'' said Mr. Roth.
He said he came up with the idea for the restaurant in 2000, when he noticed that a business associate on Wall Street kept a stash of Cocoa Puffs in his office.

''He was in a very buttoned-up Brooks Brother suit, and he just started sneaking these Cocoa Puffs behind his desk,'' Mr. Roth recalled. ''I said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'Oh, we all do this.'''

Some University of Pennsylvania students, though, wondered whether their classmates would pay almost $4 for a bowl of cereal and a topping when they could buy a whole box for that amount.
''Most people are very price-sensitive,'' said Wei Ming Yen-Dorado, a junior. ''Students who are not on the meal plan spend $3 to $5 on lunch and dinner, and they generally want to spend less than that on breakfast.''

But Mr. Roth is feeling pretty bullish about bran these days. With start-up capital from the Quaker Oats Company, he is set to open two new cereal cafes in Chicago.

''The ubiquity of Starbucks is what we aim for,'' he said. ''There's precedent for this.''