University of Hawaii athletics are subsidized at the lowest percentage of any school in the nine-member Big West Conference, based on figures from a national study.

The Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine were subsidized at a 40.13 percent rate in 2013, according to a survey compiled by USA Today and the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center and released on Thursday.

That is a rate less than half of that of four schools in the conference and almost 28 points below the next lowest school, Long Beach State (68.10).

The majority of UH’s 21 teams compete in the Big West.

Football competes in the Mountain West Conference, where UH’s overall 40.13 figure ranked ninth among 12 schools.

For purposes of the study, subsidies were defined as everything not generated by the department’s athletic functions, including students fees, direct and indirect institutional support and state money. In that criteria, UH’s subsidy was listed at $14.8 million on total revenue of $37 million and expenses of $40.3 million

Sports Subsidies

(Percentage of subsidies for Big West Conference members)

No. School %

1. UC Riverside 88.88

2. Cal State Northridge 87.17

3. UC Santa Barbara 83.60

4. UC Irvine 80.80

5. UC Davis  78.56

6. Fullerton 77.48

7. Cal Poly 75.99

8. Long Beach State 68.10

9. Hawaii 40.13

Source: Study by USA Today and Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.