Unable to afford college tuition, Combs worked at a local drug store and did small jobs for various residents of his community.[4] In 1929, his mother arranged for him to work at a coal company in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and attend Cumberland College (then a junior college).[4] The coal company job did not materialize, but Combs was able to afford three semesters at Cumberland by sweeping floors and firing furnaces in campus buildings.[2][5] In mid-1930, he began working as a clerk for the state highway department.[6] This was one of several patronage jobs that were usually awarded by the governor, but the Democratically controlled state legislature had stripped Republican Governor Flem D. Sampson of his statutory appointment powers, giving them instead to a three-man highway commission composed of Democratic Lieutenant Governor James Breathitt, Democratic Highway Commissioner Ben Johnson, and Dan Talbott.[7] This allowed Combs, a Democrat, to secure the position.[8]