K-State ranked one of happiest colleges in US. But Missouri school among most unhappy
On the Princeton Review Top 20 list of U.S. colleges where students are the most unhappy is the Missouri university where five students took their own lives in one school year.
Truman State University in Kirksville ranked 12th on the list based on how strongly students disagree with the statement “I am happy at my school.”
On the flip side, Kansas State University in Manhattan ranked third on the list of colleges where students are the happiest.
The rankings, often used in the college selection process, includes student comments about K-State: “The university manages to feel very personable and really focused on the student. Offering a welcoming environment and atmosphere. “
Thomas Lane, K-State vice president for student life, credits the college’s “student-centered approach, combined with a hard-working and persistent student body.”
The rankings, released this week, are included in the latest Princeton Review annual college guide.
K-State and Truman were the only two schools in either state to make those top 20 lists.
Despite its ranking, the review makes note that Truman State is one of Missouri’s two highly selective public colleges, referring to itself as a “premier liberal arts and sciences university.”
To get the rankings, Princeton Review asked 140,000 students from 385 colleges whether they “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree” or rate either excellent or poor, in response to roughly 80 questions about academics, college life, fellow students and themselves.
Answers were graded on a five-point scale.
The lists come out less than two weeks after news of a wrongful death lawsuit that named Truman State.
The parents of two students who killed themselves by hanging at a fraternity house are suing the school, the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity and a fraternity brother they accuse of encouraging those deaths and three others. The lawsuit claims that Brandon Grossheim gave friends step-by-step advice on how to kill themselves.
Officials from the university and the fraternity have said they disagree with the allegations.
Truman State officials declined to comment Friday on the Princeton Review list. A spokesman said officials had not seen details about how the rankings were compiled so they did not “have the ability to comment.”
Topping the list of unhappiest colleges is Xavier University of New Orleans, the only historically black, Roman Catholic school in the country, followed by Simmons University, a women’s liberal arts college in Boston.
Topping the list of happiest colleges is Auburn University in Alabama, followed by Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
This story was originally published August 9, 2019 at 5:24 PM.
