Methodology
The Chronicle of Higher Education tracked news clippings, Facebook events, and campaign announcements from May 1, 2019, to October 31, 2019, for instances in which Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren appeared on college or university campuses. The Chronicle then reached out to each candidate’s campaign team to fact-check the compiled lists. Every event cited by a campaign appears as part of this analysis; also included were university-located events, even if the campaign did not host the event.
To compile a database, The Chronicle used information on enrollment, student demographics, special focus, and type of institution from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System for the fall of 2017, the most recent semester whose final release numbers were available. Information on tuition was taken from 2018-19 Ipeds data, the most recent held by the database. In-state tuition was used for public colleges and universities.
For two visits, Ipeds data for individual campuses were not available. For Biden’s June 12, 2019, visit to Clinton Community College, The Chronicle used Ipeds data from the college’s district, the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges District. For a June 8, 2019, Sanders visit to Iowa Valley Continuing Education Conference Center, The Chronicle used Ipeds data from Marshalltown Community College, co-located on the campus. Categorization on selectivity was drawn from the Carnegie Foundation. County-level 2016 elections results are courtesy of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.