Lori Meadows
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump, Michael Sexton, and Jonathan Spitalny. Despite its name, the organization was not an accredited university or college. It offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation, charging high prices for its seminars and programs. The company faced multiple investigations, lawsuits, and student complaints, with allegations of misleading marketing practices and aggressive sales tactics. Trump University ceased operations in 2011, and Trump settled all three lawsuits for a total of $25 million in 2016 after his election as president. The question arises: did the students of Trump University know that it was not a legitimate educational institution?
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What You'll Learn
Trump University was not an accredited college or university
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump, Michael Sexton, and Jonathan Spitalny. It was owned and operated by The Trump Organization. Despite its name, the organization was not an accredited college or university. It did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students. Instead, it offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation.
The company's original business plan focused on online education, but it quickly expanded to include live, in-person instruction. The instruction's focus was on real estate investing, with Trump claiming in advertisements that he could "turn anyone into a successful real estate investor". High prices were charged for these seminars and programs, with one teacher explaining to students that the fees were to ensure they "assume personal responsibility for doing the work".
Trump University was the subject of multiple investigations, lawsuits, and student complaints, with allegations that it had defrauded its students through misleading marketing practices and aggressive sales tactics. In 2011, it ceased operations. In 2016, Trump settled all three lawsuits for a total of $25 million after being elected president.
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Misleading marketing and aggressive sales tactics
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump, Michael Sexton, and Jonathan Spitalny. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. Despite its name, it was not an accredited university or college, and it did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students.
Trump University was the subject of multiple lawsuits and student complaints, which centred on allegations of misleading marketing and aggressive sales tactics. The company used high-pressure tactics to sell its seminars and programs to customers. The lawsuits alleged that Trump University defrauded its students by misleading them about the nature of the programs and the qualifications of the instructors.
For example, advertisements for the program featured Trump claiming that he could "turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you." However, transcripts of depositions in the lawsuits revealed that Trump had never met the instructors at Trump University, despite advertisements indicating that they had been hand-picked by him.
In addition to deceptive advertising, the company also employed aggressive sales tactics. Released information included "playbooks" that instructed employees to use a hard-sell approach. Former employees testified that Trump University had defrauded or lied to its students, and that the high prices were charged not to enrich Trump but to make students assume personal responsibility for their work.
As a result of the lawsuits and negative publicity, Trump University ceased operations in 2011. In 2016, Trump settled all three lawsuits for a total of $25 million after being elected president.
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Students charged high prices for seminars
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump and his associates Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny. It offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation.
Trump University was not an accredited university or college. It conducted three- and five-day seminars, often called "retreats", and used high-pressure sales tactics to sell them to its customers. The introductory seminar urged students to sign up for additional classes, ranging from $1,495 seminars to a $35,000 "Gold Elite" program. About 6,000 tickets were sold for a $1,500 3-day course, and 1,000 were sold for silver, gold, or elite mentored courses ranging from $10,000 to $35,000.
While not licensed as a college, Trump University employed many of the same tactics as predatory colleges, such as preying on vulnerable populations and implying that the school offered a fast track to financial security. Trump claimed that students gave the program 98% favorable reviews. However, according to former students, employees pressured students to give positive reviews and did not ensure the anonymity of the surveys.
Trump University was the subject of multiple investigations, lawsuits, and student complaints. Three lawsuits alleged that Trump University engaged in illegal business practices, including false claims and racketeering. Two were federal class actions, and one was filed in New York State court. In 2005, the New York State Department of Education sent a letter to Trump University stating that they were violating state law by using the word "university" when they were not chartered as one and did not have the required license to offer live instruction or training. Despite this, the organization continued to operate and instruct students in New York State.
In 2011, amid the mounting legal issues and negative publicity, Trump University ceased operations. Trump settled all three lawsuits in November 2016, after his election as president, for a total of $25 million.
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Employees used a hard-sell approach
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. Despite its name, it was not an accredited university or college, and it did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students.
Trump University was the subject of multiple lawsuits and student complaints, which alleged that the organisation had defrauded its students through misleading marketing practices and aggressive sales tactics. Employees were instructed to use a hard-sell approach, as documented in released "playbooks". Former employees also claimed that Trump University had lied to its students.
The hard-sell approach involved high-pressure tactics to sell expensive seminars and programs to customers. The high prices were justified by one teacher, who explained that they were not to enrich Trump but to make students assume personal responsibility for their work. The sales tactics included cold-calling, setting appointments, and using promotional programs and advertisements to attract customers.
In 2011, amid multiple investigations and lawsuits, Trump University ceased operations. In 2016, following Trump's election as president, he settled all three lawsuits for a total of $25 million.
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Trump repeatedly lied about hand-picking instructors
Trump University, also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, was an American company founded in 2004 by Donald Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. Despite its name, it was not an accredited university or college. It did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students.
Trump University was the subject of multiple lawsuits and student complaints, which alleged that the organisation had defrauded its students through misleading marketing practices and aggressive sales tactics. In particular, Trump repeatedly lied about hand-picking instructors for the courses. In advertisements, Trump claimed that the staff had been hand-picked by him, yet in his deposition, he stated that he had never met the instructors. This contradiction was one of the key issues that allowed the plaintiffs' claims of deceptive practices and misrepresentation to proceed to trial.
The released information included "playbooks" that instructed employees to use hard-sell approaches, as well as depositions from former employees who confirmed that Trump University had lied to its students. Despite Trump's attorneys' efforts to block the release of videotaped testimony, the court ruled in favour of making the transcripts public, finding a legitimate public interest in their content.
Trump University ceased operations in 2011 amid the multiple investigations and lawsuits. Despite initially insisting he would not settle, Trump eventually settled all three lawsuits in November 2016, after being elected president, for a total of $25 million.
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Frequently asked questions
No. Despite its name, Trump University was not an accredited university or college. It did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students.
It is unclear if students knew that Trump University was not a legitimate university. However, the university was the subject of multiple investigations, lawsuits, and student complaints, eventually ceasing operations in 2011.
The lawsuits centered on allegations that Trump University defrauded its students by using misleading marketing practices and engaging in aggressive sales tactics. Trump settled all three lawsuits in November 2016 for a total of $25 million.
