The Don and Carol Crisp Student Affordability Endowment
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on Crisp (’64) served on ACU’s Board of Trustees for 23 years, from 1984-2007, the last 15 years as its chair. He and his wife, Carol (Croson ’64), have supported ACU financially for decades, providing endowed scholarships in music and education, as well as a professorship in the College of Business Administration. Several years ago, the couple created the Don and Carol Crisp Student Affordability Endowment, which will be the fund for all unrestricted endowment gifts raised during the Partnering in the Journey Campaign. Money from the fund will help students likely to incur the most debt in pursuing an ACU education.
What were your and Carol’s backgrounds before coming to ACU? I grew up in Victoria, Texas, where my father was a truck driver. When I was still very young, my mother earned a college degree so she could become a schoolteacher. My parents’ combined income, along with their willingness to subordinate their personal financial needs, allowed me – along with my sister and brother – to earn a college education. I have enormous respect for parents who are
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willing to make that sacrificial commitment. Carol was from Fort Worth. Her mother was a homemaker and her father started as a band director, owned a music store for a few years and later, sold life insurance. I thought she was from a rich family when I first met her, actually, but it turned out her financial situation was very similar to mine. We both worked and lived very frugally during our college years. How did you come to Abilene? I have an older sister [Sue (’60) Smith], who was the trailblazer in our family. When she graduated from high school, she was determined to go to ACU. Once she enrolled and shared the great experience she was enjoying, ACU became an automatic choice for me. My brother, Jerry (’66), also is a graduate. Carol came to ACC because her grandmother encouraged her to do so and offered to pay some of her tuition. We have followed her example with our own grandchildren. How did you pay for college? When we attended ACU, tuition was less than $20 per hour as I recall. Though that
sounds miniscule today, it was a great challenge for working families and we struggled financially. Both of us worked during the school year and in the summers to supplement the funds our parents could provide, and we graduated debt free. In the 50 years since we were in school, the cost of higher education has increased much faster than earnings for average income families. As a result, what was barely possible for us has become impossible for families today. Now, most students must incur debt to earn a degree. You’ve given back substantially to ACU over the years. Why and how did you start? Like many other alumni, our experience at ACU literally changed our lives. Dedicated Christian faculty such as Dr. Overton Faubus prepared us for a professional career but, more importantly, instilled values and provided mentoring to influence our perspective on life. Friendships formed with classmates have endured for a lifetime and helped us be better people. For our family, ACU has become a place to find a mate for life. Carol and I met on campus and, exercising the wisdom of