By Paige Masten
(This is the first of three stories examining claims made by the presidential candidate at his UNC speech.)
U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders came to Chapel Hill last week for a rally hosted by UNC Young Democrats and spoke to a crowd of 2,528 — many of them UNC students — about issues such as healthcare, college tuition and campaign finance reform.
Thank you to UNC-Chapel Hill for helping us kick off our college tour this weekend! Young people are far more powerful than they realize, and together we’ll transform this country. pic.twitter.com/GR0mtOwFqR— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 20, 2019
UNC FactCheck was there to verify or debunk Sanders’ claims.
College tuition
Sanders reiterated his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, pointing out that European countries such as Germany and Finland already offer tuition-free college to their citizens.
This claim is true, however, citizens in these countries tend to pay more in taxes to offset the cost.
Continuing on the topic of free college, Sanders said that within the United States, tuition-free public college is becoming more and more popular. One example Sanders gave was the state of New Mexico. The state recently announced that tuition at its public colleges and universities will be free for all state residents, regardless of family income. The plan remains subject to legislative approval, though.
Sanders also claimed that NYU, Cornell and Columbia have made their medical schools tuition-free in the past year.
This claim is partially true. It’s important to clarify that at Cornell, medical school won’t be free for everyone. All students who qualify for financial aid will receive full scholarships; in a statement, the university said it is replacing student loans with scholarships that cover tuition, housing and other living expenses.
The same goes for Columbia. According to the Columbia Daily Spectator, approximately 20 percent of Columbia medical students will not be expected to pay any tuition. The school is transitioning to scholarship-only financial aid, but it is still need-based. Students with the greatest financial need receive full-tuition scholarships, while others get grants, rather than loans, to offset their needs.
But it is true that at NYU, tuition is covered for all medical students regardless of merit or need.
Campaign finance
Sanders criticized the U.S. campaign finance system and the influence of big money donors.
“We’re not going to transform this country … unless we have a campaign finance system which is based on small donations,” Sanders said.
Sanders announced at the rally that his campaign reached one million individual contributors on Thursday. According to his campaign, Sanders is the first to reach the one million donor threshold this quickly — only seven months have passed since Sanders announced his candidacy in February.
UNC FactCheck was unable to confirm or refute this claim.
Sanders also took a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden — who is polling the highest among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates right now — for his perceived loyalty to wealthy donors.
“I would contrast that with how my good friend Vice President Biden is raising money today,” Sanders said. “I would say to him, ‘Joe, we are not going to make the changes we need in this country when you go to three fundraisers in Chicago by multimillionaires.”
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Biden attended three private fundraisers in Chicago on Sept. 19 — all of them hosted by some of Chicago’s wealthiest donors.
A number of special guests preceded Sanders, including campaign co-chair and former state Sen. Nina Turner, prominent UNC alum and University of Pennsylvania Professor Adolph Reed, actor Danny Glover and Ben and Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen.
