So the saying goes: He who laughs last laughs longest.

This past week, Slippery Rock University had reason to celebrate as it was listed in two different reports on the best colleges and universities. The school also got in the last laugh after having been besmirched earlier this year by a celebrity.

The Eagle reported last week that the university had been featured for the fourth consecutive year among the best national colleges and universities in the 2020 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. In that report, SRU was ranked high among a total of 801 institutions across the nation.

Now, this week, more honors were bestowed upon the school. SRU finished in 75th place — moving up from 90th place last year — in U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 ranking of the best northern regional schools. The university has made that list for 11 years in a row.

It’s always great to see a local college be successful and get recognized for it. But the victory is especially sweet considering an incident earlier this year.

In April, Dr. Phil McGraw — known to most as TV’s “Dr. Phil” — slighted the university when taking part in a discussion on the nation’s college admissions scandal.

In an interview with People magazine, Dr. Phil said of parents: “They want to say, ‘My kid’s going to Harvard, my kid’s going to USC or Yale. I think it’s bragging rights for them, and they don’t want to be the one parent (who) says, ‘Well, yeah, my kid’s going to, like, Slippery Rock.’”

Dr. Phil apologized for his comment, and insisted he didn’t know SRU existed.

He went on to research the school, deemed it a “fine institution” and added that his original comment was made from “ignorance, not intention.”

Regardless, SRU students and administrators were none too happy. William Behre, the university’s president, wrote a letter to Dr. Phil extolling SRU’s virtues — especially that it makes higher education affordable for those who normally wouldn’t be able to attend college.

But SRU has much more to be proud of. Earlier this year, its master’s degree in education was ranked among the nation’s top 50 online programs by TheBestSchools.org. It was the only school on the list from Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. We’re glad to see SRU getting its due this week from two prestigious college rankings. Butler County is fortunate that its students have an affordable option to getting a great education in its backyard.