For the third consecutive year, students have filled every living space available on Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's campus as the fall semester opens Wednesday.

Dr. Chris Kinsey, director of residence life, said about 1,350 students are occupying rooms in ABAC Place, ABAC Lakeside and are overflowing into Comer Hall. That brings a smile to the face of ABAC President David Bridges.

"We always like to have the residence halls filled and that has not been a problem the last few years," said Bridges. "Building on a theme we used last week at the fall conference, these students know life is better at ABAC."

Troy Spicer, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, said applications for spots in the nursing program are the highest in three years.

"We are on track to enroll the largest nursing class ever at ABAC," said Spicer, a 1982 graduate of the ABAC nursing program. "The previous record was in the fall of 2011."

Area merchants are glad to see ABAC students return because in a recent study the college was shown to have an economic impact of $329,844,725 on the Tiftarea.

Bridges expects fall term enrollment to be about the same as the 2015 enrollment when 3,393 students from 153 Georgia counties, 25 states and 22 countries attended the college.

"The past five years have been extraordinarily rough as far as college enrollment," Bridges said. "This has been a nationwide trend. It has been brutal in Georgia, particularly South Georgia. At ABAC, we have held our own and have actually grown a bit. And we haven't had to compromise on ABAC's principles and demand for excellence. ABAC is the only college in South Georgia that has not seen a precipitous decline in the last few years."