 Rayburn spoke positively of the school, especially Mayo's credit system that allowed students to "attend free with a promise to pay when they got out and made some money", which "made it possible for hundreds and hundreds of young people to go to college who could not have afforded to attend another institution".ETNC's early success also attracted the attention of other communities in North Texas, and in 1904 Denison attempted to entice Mayo to relocate the college there for a considerable amount of financial aid.Whether or not Mayo seriously considered the offer is unknown, but he was able to use it as leverage to persuade Commerce to give the college $30,000 over the next three years for the promise that it would remain, money that was mostly used to renovate and expand ETNC's physical plant.