Southwest Texas State Teachers College
In 1932, after graduating from high school in a class of twelve, Bing enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers College (present-day Texas State University). Given his family's limited income, Bing had to work his way through college.
"Several years after my father’s death, our funds had been depleted to the extent that my mother returned to teaching to earn a living. (The pay was only $6.50 per month.) Yet, there was never a question as to whether or not my sister and I would go to college...Two of my favorite high school teachers had finished their college education at Southwest Texas State Teachers College, or Southwest Texas State University as it is now called, and arranged for me to get a job in San Marcos at the college cafeteria. This is the way I supported myself during college.
I was quite frugal; my mother and I figured it had cost me less than $300 to get my bachelor’s degree, most of which was for tuition. I did complete college in 2½ years—eager to finish in a hurry so funds could be used to send my sister to school. She also went to Southwest Texas State Teachers College."
While he was a student at SWTSTC, Bing was a member of the debate team and the forensic honor society Pi Kappa Delta. He served as vice-president of the Jeffersonian Literary Society, a group organized to promote improvement in composition, debate, and public speaking. He also lettered in track as a high-jumper, jumping more than six feet, the equivalent of his height. Bing graduated from SWTSTC in 1935 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.
"I entered math before it was fashionable to do so...Why? I enjoyed it. Mental curiosity. Beauty of the subject." (R.H. Bing Papers, University Archives, Texas State University)