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He was able to continue his education with the help of a $300 scholarship.
"Three hundred dollars was a lot of money in 1933, especially with the Depression," Arbingast said in an 2002 interview for Winona Currents Magazine. "Tuition was only $19 per quarter, including books, but I needed that scholarship in order to return to school, and receiving it allowed me to do so."
Those scholarship funds were raised through an 11 cent increase on the board bill of every student living or eating in the dormitories. Once $300 was accumulated, the first scholarship was awarded to Arbingast. Since then, he has contributed greatly to the WSU Foundation and has established two scholarships.
"As the cost of education increases, it's becoming a real challenge for a lot of middle income families to keep their children in school," Arbingast said. "I got $300 in 1933 and I have always been grateful for that scholarship. That's why I decided to begin giving scholarships."
Arbingast majored in history and education (social science) at Winona State. After graduating in 1934, he taught at high schools in Lewiston, Minn., and Duluth. In June 1942, he entered the Air Force, serving as a crypt-analyst during World War II.
After the war, Arbingast returned to Duluth to teach social studies at Denfeld Senior High School. He also coached declamation and debate, leading the debate team to a 1947 state championship.
While still teaching, Arbingast furthered his education by attending the University of Washington during the summers. He later went full-time, earning a master's degree in 1949 and his Ph.D. degree in 1956.
From 1949 to 1981, Arbingast was a professor of marketing and geography at the University of Texas. In 1975, he became the Director of Operations for the Bureau of Business Research, supervising staff and co-authoring articles about the economics of Texas and the southwestern United States. He also co-authored the Atlas of Texas, the Atlas of Mexico and the Atlas of Central America, and edited the Texas Business Review and Texas Industrial Expansion.
Arbingast was presented with a Distinguished Alumnus Award by the WSU Alumni Society in 1988 and was inducted into the WSU Foundation's Cornerstone Society in 1991 recognizing cumulative gifts to the Foundation in excess of $20,000. He's been honored with Excellence in Teaching awards, the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Bureaus of Business and Economic Research, and the Eyes of Texas Award.
Arbingast was appointed an Admiral of the Texas Navy by the Governor of Texas for outstanding service to state government, and was elected to the University of Texas College of Business Administration Hall of Fame, the highest honor awarded to alumni and faculty of the college.
Arbingast was a generous contributor to the WSU Foundation. He founded the Dr. Stanley Arbingast Scholarship and the Mary Lucille Nelson Scholarship, in honor of his late sister. He contributed to Winona State because he was impressed with the positive changes made to the school's reputation and its heightened academic requirements, but also because of the scholarship he received in 1933.
"After I left Winona State, I realized that the professors were good people and very good teachers," he said in a 2002 interview. "President Maxwell was strict and rigid, but he had a good influence on the students and he saw to it that those who needed financial help were helped, sometimes out of his own pocket, I think. He helped students when they needed it, and I would like to do that too."
Dr. Arbingast will be missed but his name will live on through the scholarship at Winona State and the plaque on the wall in the northwest corner of Somsen Hall's second floor honoring the WSU Foundation's Cornerstone Society members. | 
