New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman sued Trump University, claiming it was a fraud from the beginning.  Last week he went on television with Hillary Clinton supporter George Stephanopoulos to say, “We have a law against running an illegal unlicensed university.  This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization.”

Not having read his pleadings, I’ll assume the law is as Schneiderman says, although state attorneys general sometimes concoct strained interpretations of laws when they wish to target individuals or entities for enforcement matters.  Trump, by the way, did change the name of his program to remove the term “university.”

There are, however, plenty of entrepreneurs and businesses that use the term “university” to teach others.  These “universities” are what they are, and are not deceiving anyone into thinking they offer the equivalent of an undergraduate degree.

On Long Island, for example, there is Rock n Roll University.  Someone has Power Sales University.  There is a Food University, and even the trademarked Barbeque University show, which has received favorable attention at Forbes Magazine and PBS.

There is Charm University LLC, which promotes itself as “an organization designed to bring knowledge and shed light on the importance of financial literacy through education.”

American DJ University “is a fun and easy way for beginning DJs to learn the basics of how to use DJ lighting and audio equipment, and start a fun and prosperous career in the entertainment industry,” according to its website.  And there is Astrology University for zodiac enthusiasts.  Homer Simpson’s favorite is probably Dunkin Donuts University.

On the flip side, the New York state-run university system does have the NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where “[a]n Alfred State degree gets results!”

Trump U is also criticized for urging some students to max out their credit cards to pay for the program.  Entrepreneurship is risk, something that is foreign to the nanny state and socialists.

But even licensed undergrad programs come with debt.  According to the Student Loan Hero website, “Americans owe nearly $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 43 million borrowers. In fact, the average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from last year.”  The socialist solution would be to make college free, which would be the worst lesson of all.

The nanny state discourages entrepreneurship in so many ways, and while licensing laws are certainly useful for certain professions, the nanny state has taken to requiring licenses for average businesses and imposing other regulatory burdens that interfere with success.  It is no wonder that small business owners fed up with the nanny state are flocking to Trump.