Two weeks into his first year at Yale, Crabbe returned to Hawaii because his grandmother was dying. She did not die until the spring of 1929 though. Yale told Crabbe he could come back to the university on his scholarship, but he would have to start over as a freshman. He didn't want to do this. He applied to Stanford University, but was told the same thing. He was happy when he got a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC) as a sophomore. He worked in a downtown Los Angeles store to make money, and joined the Sigma Chi fraternity. He was a member of USC's first swim team. He got his Bachelor of Science degree from USC in June 1931.