On campuses in the thick of societal transformation, he viewed his education in a utilitarian light.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

Trump: The College Years

By Donald J. Trump’s own account, he saw higher education as a means to an end. Fordham University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where Mr. Trump transferred to complete a bachelor’s degree in economics, were essentially credential factories. To become the real-estate mogul he envisioned, he needed these institutions — but in the same dispassionate way that a mechanic, say, needs a socket wrench.

“In my opinion, that degree doesn’t prove very much, but a lot of people I do business with take it very seriously, and it’s considered very prestigious,” Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wrote in his book The Art of the Deal. “So all things considered, I’m glad I went to Wharton.”