ABAC enrollment up for third time in four years

TIFTON — The numbers from the opening of fall semester Wednesday show that for the third time in the last four years, student enrollment is up at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

ABAC President David Bridges said the early enrollment data indicate a student population of 3,451, which would be 58 students more than ABAC had during fall semester 2015. ABAC also increased its enrollment in 2013 and 2014, the only college or university south of Macon in the University System of Georgia to accomplish that.

“I have been studying the numbers all week, and it looks as if the enrollment from Florida, South Carolina and Alabama has pushed us past last year,” said Bridges, who is beginning his 11th year at the helm of the college. “We’re up 35 percent in those states.

“ABAC is a destination college for most of those students since the majority of them are involved in our bachelor’s degrees in agriculture. I think the neighbor waivers certainly played a role in those students’ decisions to attend ABAC.”

One thing that may be helping in that area is ABAC has waived out-of-state tuition for students from bordering states, a policy that was enacted by the USG last year. The Tifton college has seen student increases of 50 percent from Alabama, 79 percent from South Carolina and 24 percent from Florida.

“We usually attract students from 23 or 24 other states, and we’ve seen the number go up just in those three states from 168 students to 228 students this fall,” Bridges said. “I have to believe that figure will be even higher next fall.”

This semester, more than half of the students enrolled are pursuing four-year degrees, the first time that has happened since 1933, when ABAC became a two-year school. ABAC started offering four-year programs again in 2008.

Bridges said 1,741 students are seeking majors in areas in which bachelor’s degrees are available, a 25 percent increase over 2015. The increase this semester of 347 more students enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs is the largest single-year leap in ABAC’s history.

ABAC officials say the top bachelor’s degree majors at the college are agriculture, with 612; biology, 307; natural resource management, 283, and business and economic development, 279. The rural studies bachelor’s degree program now has 164 students, and ABAC’s new bachelor’s degree in nursing has attracted 22 students.

“That’s a phenomenal jump in students pursuing a bachelor’s degree,” Bridges said. “The numbers paint a positive picture that reflects ABAC’s status as a genuine baccalaureate degree-granting institution.”