A graduate of Ladue High School, Ken Hurley Kellogg showed an early aptitude for politics, bargaining, and other contests. He was a well-liked and well-respected student who finally discovered his calling at this university. He graduated with honors from Saint Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a 3.9 GPA.

His legal education continued at Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated with a J.D. He participated on the Moot Court Team and took second place in a negotiating competition when he was a student here. These associations primed him for a profession in which he would mediate disputes between parties who, on their own, saw no point in cooperating.