I realize the Newsweek analysis is also looking at the number of intramural participants and spending on athletics, but I think the headline (schools stocked with jocks) has a much easier answer. Quoting myself from a December 2024 post in the College Closings thread:
If I could find my spreadsheet where I had pulled the data, there would be 18 schools composed of at least 80% varsity athletes, and then I’d pull the next 7 schools that are in the 70-79% bucket. All of those would swamp schools like the NESCACs where 26-35% of students are varsity athletes, no matter how many intramural participants they have. And when the bulk of a school’s students are athletes, I assume that they’re also devoting a significant chunk of their resources to that area as well.
From the lede of the Newsweek piece:
Among the in the top 10, two stand out:
For what had been a well-respected periodical, that flub is very saddening, and they haven’t fixed it over the course of many years, as the article was first published in 2010 and updated in 2017.