Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris clashed during Tuesday’s debate, with an early focus on Trump’s Wharton School credentials and economic policies.
Harris sharply criticized Trump’s plan, arguing it could worsen the deficit and lead to inflation and recession. “What the Wharton School said is Donald Trump’s plan would actually explode the deficit,” Harris said. She also mentioned that financial experts, including Goldman Sachs and Nobel Laureates, have viewed Trump’s proposals unfavorably.
Trump countered by highlighting his credentials from the Wharton School of Finance. “I went to the Wharton School of Finance, and many top professors there think my plan is brilliant. It’s a great plan,” he said.
Trump’s connection to Wharton has been a significant part of his public persona. He started his college education at Fordham University in the Bronx in 1964 but transferred to Wharton two years later. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics in May 1968.
Despite this, Trump has not released records detailing his admission process or academic performance. James Nolan, a former admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania, suggested that his family’s status and connections might have influenced Trump’s admission. Nolan noted that transfer students generally had a higher acceptance rate.
While specific acceptance rates for Penn in the 1960s are not available, they were “slightly greater than 40%” in the 1980s, according to the university’s website. Today, Penn’s acceptance rate is just 7%, according to U.S. News & World Report.
More: Presidential debate fact check: Keeping an eye on claims from Trump, Harris
Jeremy Yurow is a politics reporting fellow based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at JYurow@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter @JeremyYurow
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Donald Trump go to Wharton? Inside his education