Parents and guardians can breathe a sigh of relief, I guess, that only one Louisiana college or university has the dubious honor of being listed high in an annual survey by the Princeton Review.

Look closely at the list of Top 20 party schools and you’ll see Tulane University ranked 19th, just ahead of Arizona State University at No. 20.

Staid old Penn State University in State College, Pa., holds the unenviable, or enviable, spot at No. 1. PSU took the title away from SEC powerhouse University of Florida in the 2009 Princeton Review (no relation to Princeton University). Florida tumbled out of the penthouse to runner-up in the annual survey released Monday.

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Penn State? That’s the home of “Jo Paw” — ageless head football coach Joe Paterno, who’s just so many games ahead on the all-time winning list of Florida State University head coach Bobby Bowden. That might change, by the way, depending on the NCAA and its punishment of FSU.

There were 122,000 students nationwide who voted with an average of 325 respondents to the survey per school, according to the Associated Press. Known for its football tailgating, fraternity and sorority life, PSU also finished first in the categories “lots of beer” and students who help pack the stadium, usually more than 107,000 per football game.

Bowden’s school has bragging rights, or a degree of awkwardness, by being ranked No. 9.

Guide author Robert Franek said every school in the survey offered “great academics.” He said the survey doesn’t rank schools academically because the goal is to “help students find and get into the best school for them ... It’s all about fit.”

With tuition costs and everything else going up, perhaps this survey is a blessing for parents or others to determine where their child and money go. Some parents just may want their college-bound student to avoid going to a place of higher learning with such a reputation.

DON SHOOPMAN

SENIOR NEWS EDITOR