You might not have expected this kind of solution but it is worth knowing that there is also a front end solution for this kind of problem.
The css3 spec have a new feature called column-count, which will automatically render your text in multiple columns
Here is a simple example from w3schools
div
{
column-count:3;
-moz-column-count:3; /* Firefox */
-webkit-column-count:3; /* Safari and Chrome */
}
Here is another
I know this only works in modern browsers, but people have started using it already!
And good news there already a fallback jquery plugin for this called Columnizer