Budd said Utah schools actually have crime rates that are lower than the national average. But he warned, "At every campus, you have a higher risk of becoming a victim than elsewhere. Most crimes are committed by people in 16 to 25 age group, and that is the age group at most campuses. More drinking goes on. There is more drugs. It is an environment that is more conducive to crime."

Among medium and larger schools, the one with the highest crime rate was in a rural area: Snow College in rural Ephraim. It had 53.3 crimes per 10,000 students on average annually for the period.

Budd said that because Snow is small, and people likely feel safe and think they know everyone, students "are probably more casual about their personal effects and are less concerned about safety," making crime easier.

The lowest rate among medium and larger colleges was at an urban school: Utah Valley State College in Orem: just 3.3 crimes per 10,000 students.

Of interest, rape — a crime that colleges traditionally expend great efforts to avoid through education and security — is reported only at medium and larger schools in Utah. Smaller schools (with fewer than 2,000 students) did not report any on-campus rapes during the four-year period.

The school with the highest average annual rate for rapes was the rural College of Eastern Utah, with 29 per 10,000 women students. Behind it were Snow College (16 per 10,000 women), Weber State (11), the U. (7.4) and USU (7.2).

Large and medium schools that reported no rapes in the period included Dixie State, Westminster and the Davis Applied Technology College.

Budd said rape is one of the most underreported crimes in the nation — less than half are likely reported — because victims often worry about stigma or feel shame. He said less stigma for reporting it is likely at big universities than at small colleges where everyone knows each other.