What was Donald Trump's GPA or academic record at Fordham University?
Executive summary
Publicly available records do not show Donald Trump’s GPA from Fordham University, and Fordham has repeatedly said it will not release student records except to the student—statements that were confirmed amid revelations that Trump’s team tried to block disclosure—while independent images circulating online claiming to be his Fordham transcript have been identified as forgeries [1] [2] [3].
1. The simple answer: there's no verified Fordham GPA on the public record
No authoritative document or university release provides Donald Trump’s GPA from his two years at Fordham (1964–1966); Fordham’s spokesman has stated that the university follows federal privacy law and will not disclose student records to anyone but the student, and fact-checkers and the school have debunked circulating images purporting to be Trump’s Fordham transcript as forgeries [2] [3] [4].
2. Why the record is sealed: privacy law and active discouragement from Trump's camp
Federal student-privacy protections and Fordham’s public statements explain part of the absence of a GPA in the public domain, but reporting also documents that Michael Cohen, acting on Trump’s instructions, sent letters warning Fordham and other institutions not to release records—a step Fordham confirmed it received and which coincided with its refusal to share records with media requests [1] [5].
3. What reliable reporting does say about Trump’s time at Fordham and later education
Multiple reputable accounts place Trump at Fordham for two years before he transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1968; Wharton commencement materials show no honors attached to his degree, and profiles note his major as economics, but none of these sources produce a numeric GPA for his Fordham years [6] [5] [7].
4. The misinformation trail: forged report cards and social-media claims
Since 2019 and again in later election cycles, images circulated online claiming to show a dismal Fordham transcript—complete with an extraordinarily low overall GPA—have been analyzed and labeled fake by the university and independent fact-checkers, with Fordham explicitly calling at least one such image a forgery and noting the university’s commitment to FERPA protections [3] [2] [4].
5. Estimates and gossip: why numbers floating online are unreliable
Some commercial or partisan sites and blogs have offered estimates—ranges like “around 2.5 to 3.0” or suggestions he was an “average” student—but these are speculative summaries not grounded in primary documents; they rely on inference and anecdote rather than a transcript or university confirmation, and should be treated as unverified conjecture [8].
6. Competing narratives and motives to hide or reveal grades
The debate over releasing Trump’s academic records has political and rhetorical dimensions: critics argue transparency is appropriate for a public figure who has challenged others on academic credentials, while Trump’s side framed protection as legal privacy—an argument enforced by the university and buttressed by Cohen’s threats to institutions, which themselves became political evidence in congressional testimony [5] [1].
7. What reporting cannot tell — and what would be required to know more
Available sources do not provide a verified GPA from Fordham; only the holder of the records (Trump) or a compliant release from the university under law or with written consent could change that. Reporting notes the existence of attempted legal intimidation and forged documents, but absent a legitimate university transcript or an authorized release, any specific GPA number remains unconfirmed [1] [3] [2].