--- title: Donald Trump's Defense of "University" Relies on Shaky Math description: He claims a 98% approval rating, but 32% demanded refunds. canonical: https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-03T17:27:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:41.116Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Defense of 'University' Relies on Shaky Math og:description: He says it had a 98 percent approval rating, but a third demanded refunds. og:url: https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd955a25531cac2e/698880198e06017589464e0c/donald-trump-republican-presidential-candidate-trump-university1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Donald Trump, Michael Sexton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Defense of 'University' Relies on Shaky Math twitter:description: He says it had a 98 percent approval rating, but a third demanded refunds. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd955a25531cac2e/698880198e06017589464e0c/donald-trump-republican-presidential-candidate-trump-university1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Defense of 'University' Relies on Shaky Math > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5940286-6dd9-4d57-bc2e-52e52b33f5bf&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 3, 2016 5:27 PM UTC  Donald Trump listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news conference in New York where he announced the establishment of Trump University on May 23, 2005. Donald Trump listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news conference in New York where he announced the establishment of Trump University on May 23, 2005. Bebeto Matthews—AP by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 3, 2016 5:27 PM UTC Republican front-runner Donald Trump is once again arguing that students at his defunct Trump University had a “98 percent” approval rating, but that number would’t pass muster in a freshman statistics course. Faced with attacks from TV ads as well as [former GOP nominee Mitt Romney](http://time.com/4246148/mitt-romney-donald-trump/) over the classes, Trump [said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/271595-trump-if-i-get-out-supporters-going-with-me) Thursday that students of his real estate program were satisfied, despite an ongoing legal battle. “They’re spending now $100 million on negative, phony ads on Trump University which, by the way, has at 98 percent approval rating by the students that took the course—98 percent,” he told host Joe Scarborough. “That’s why I won’t settle the case.” But [as Steven Brill wrote in TIME in November](http://time.com/4101290/what-the-legal-battle-over-trump-university-reveals-about-its-founder/), those numbers don’t add up. In a sworn deposition, director of operations Mark Covais conceded that nearly a third of students who took three-day seminars from Trump’s instructors demanded and received refunds before Trump University changed its policy. --- > “” --- In [a separate case](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/26/trump-entrepreneur-initiative-case/2700811/), a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a line of argument from Trump’s lawyer that a disgruntled student had once praised the program. Explicitly comparing Trump University to the kind of Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff, Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote that [“victims of con artists often sing the praises of their victimizers until the moment they realize they have been fleeced.”](http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/04/17/11-55016.pdf) In a speech Thursday morning, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney [explicitly attacked Trump University](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/mitt-romney-trump-speech-220167). “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” he said. “He’s playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.” Republican critics of Trump are hoping to turn the program’s fate into further attacks against Trump. Ads released by the American Future Fund, a nonprofit that backed Romney in the 2012 campaign, [feature former Trump University students](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/29/a-trio-of-truthful-attack-ads-about-trump-university/). A [separate ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnCGwdyiIuA) from Our Principles PAC, a super PAC backed by the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, [also criticizes the program](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-ricketts-family-donald-trump-ad-illinois-met-20160301-story.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Defense of 'University' Relies on Shaky Math","datePublished":"2016-03-03T17:27:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:41.116Z","description":"He claims a 98% approval rating, but 32% demanded refunds.","url":"https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","mitt romney","campaign ads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd955a25531cac2e/698880198e06017589464e0c/donald-trump-republican-presidential-candidate-trump-university1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd955a25531cac2e/698880198e06017589464e0c/donald-trump-republican-presidential-candidate-trump-university1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump, Michael Sexton","caption":"Donald Trump listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news conference in New York where he announced the establishment of Trump University on May 23, 2005.","creditText":"Bebeto Matthews—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4246394/donald-trump-university-98-percent-approval-lawsuit/","name":"Donald Trump's Defense of 'University' Relies on Shaky Math"}}]}] ```