University Of Tampa Makes List Of 25 Safest Campuses In America

TAMPA, FL — With college students across the country returning to on-campus learning, the security experts at YourLocalSecurity.com has released its "Safest College Campuses in America," ranking the University of Tampa as the No. 1 safest campus in Florida.

While admission acceptance, major selection and location are some main things high school graduates consider when choosing their college, safety should play a role as well.

To help bring awareness and support students’ decision-making, YourLocalSecurity.com ranked the 25 safest college campuses across the country for the fifth year in a row.

YourLocalSecurity.com has tracked the safest school campuses since 2016 using official data collected from the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security and the FBI’s 2019 Uniform Crime Report.

Data is gathered from a span of three years rather than a year-by-year basis. Therefore, the data in this study comes from information between 2017–2019.

The website narrowed down its study to campuses that fall into the following categories: public, private or nonprofit institutions which have a minimum of 5,000 students and offer a two- or four-year degree.

Out of the 1,000 colleges that met the criteria, the website focused on the 395 schools that submitted crime information to the FBI. Experts then evaluated safety results based on the following factors to find the school’s overall crime rate.

For each crime factor, the rate reported has been compared against the population per 10,000 people within the city limits. The lower the rate, the lower the number of crimes reported in that category:

• Violent crimes per 10,000 people
• Property crimes per 10,000 people
• Hate + Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) per 10,000 people
• In this list are textbook examples of what campus safety looks like from the schools that do it best.

The University of Tampa came in at 19th place nationally. With a city population of more than 40,000, UT scored a rate of 4.0 for violent crime, a rate of 24.1 for hate/VAWA, and a rate of 16.3 for property crime.

To help students feel safe going to and from classes, The University of Tampa provides a service called the LASER (Law Abiding Students Ever Ready) Team. Students who prefer not to walk alone can call the escort service and have company—either walking or motorized—while traveling to their destination.

Click here to see where other universities ranked for safety.