What major did Donald J. Trump declare at Fordham University in 1966

1. What the contemporary and retrospective sources say: “business” or “economics”

Profiles and university records in the provided set uniformly place Trump at Fordham for two years studying toward a business/economics curriculum: a student retrospective and profiles describe him as enrolled in Fordham’s business program or studying economics ^{[1] [2]}. Mainstream biographical summaries note he moved from Fordham’s business/arts offerings into Wharton in 1966 to complete a Bachelor of Science in economics ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Why language differs: “business major,” “studied economics,” or “School of Business”

Different outlets use slightly different labels. Some pieces call his Fordham enrollment a “business major” or attendance at Fordham’s School of Business ^{[1] [6]}, while encyclopedia-style entries and Fordham’s own pages summarize it as “studied economics” ^{[2] [3]}. The variation reflects whether writers emphasize the vocational/business orientation or the academic discipline (economics) he later completed at Wharton ^[5].

3. The decisive fact: he transferred to Wharton in 1966

All sources that track his college timeline agree on the key date: Trump left Fordham after the spring 1966 semester and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he earned a BS in economics in 1968 ^{[4] [3] [5]}. That transfer is the concrete milestone allowing many writers to summarize his Fordham years as two years of business/economics study ^[1].

4. Campus memory and records: little public detail about courses or major name

Contemporaneous recollections cited in the reporting stress that Trump was not prominent on campus and that detailed records (transcripts, class lists) are not publicly discussed; the Fordham campus accounts describe him as a commuter student studying economics/business but stop short of a detailed transcript-level label ^{[7] [8]}. Fordham’s institutional summary also states he “studied economics” without providing a formal major title ^[2].

5. How journalists and secondary sites present the claim (and why they vary)

News outlets and later summaries sometimes use the easier shorthand “business major” when recounting his Fordham years, likely to link those years to his later real-estate career; other references opt for “economics” to align with the degree he completed at Wharton ^{[6] [1]}. Non-academic outlets and listicles may prefer “business” as more accessible, while encyclopedic or university pages prefer “economics” ^{[3] [2]}.

6. What the provided sources do not say or confirm

Available sources do not mention a formal Fordham-issued degree in a named major at the time Trump left, nor do they supply his Fordham transcript or an official Fordham declaration of a precise major title beyond “business” or “economics” descriptors ^{[7] [2]}. If you need the exact Fordham catalog title from 1964–1966 (e.g., “Bachelor in Business Administration” vs. “Economics concentration”), those specifics are not in the supplied reporting ^{[1] [2]}.

7. Bottom line for the original question

Based on the provided reporting, Donald Trump’s record at Fordham is described as study in the business/economics field—commonly rendered as “business major” or “studied economics”—before he transferred to Wharton in 1966 to finish his degree in economics ^{[1] [4] [2]}. If you need an exact historical departmental label from Fordham’s 1964–1966 catalogs, that precise phrasing is not found in the current set of sources ^{[2] [7]}.