Back then is true, but it is more about BYU. Back in the day, certainly when President Nelson was in college, BYU was known to be a bit of a joke of a school and not a place to get a respectable degree. My dad who is much younger than Pres Nelson and also a BYU fan (but graduated from the U Law School) said the same thing as well. I'd equate it to BYU-Idaho today. A decent-ish school but not a degree that was going to impress anybody. This is largely true up to the 80s (sorry folks) and it wasn't until the late 80s that BYU became a respectable degree. Today a lot of that continues to be propelled because the elite LDS kids now flock here. Heck, BYU gave me a scholarship back in the day and I was a good but not great student. No way I would even get in today. But back then (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s) if you wanted a serious education you didn't go to BYU. If you couldn't afford out of state tuition you went to Utah. I'm sure this will anger more than a few people, but that was the general consensus at the time and WHY so many of the Q12 and past presidents went to Utah. Also a great example of why a rising tide raises all ships when it comes to degrees. Your BYU degree likely wasn't in 2020 but you still get credit for it.