Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of stories over the next several days looking back at significant progress in Moultrie and Colquitt County during 2016.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — As any parent who has sent a child off to college knows, living expenses — whether on or off-campus — add significantly to the total costs of an education.

In Colquitt County, students have two educational institutions where they can continue their learning beyond high school, and several others within commuting distance.

Close to home are Southern Regional Technical College on Veterans Parkway, and ABAC on the Square in downtown Moultrie, a satellite campus of Abraham Bakdwin Agricultural College in Tifton.

“ABAC began offering classes at Spence Field in Moultrie in 1946 for soldiers returning home from World War II,” said Jena Willis, coordinator at the Moultrie campus. “Under the direction of Merle Baker, ABAC began offering classes at the Moultrie Library in 1987. ABAC on the Square opened in 1997.”

About 200 students currently attend classes at ABAC on the Square, she said. Some students attend classes in both Moultrie and Tifton, while others get all the core classes out of the way that they can in Moultrie before moving on.

Students cannot get all the courses needed for an associate’s degree in Moultrie, but they can get the buik of them.

“They can get most of their core classes here,” Willis siad. “We offer core curriculum classes that fit just about any program of study. Some of the core classes they would have to do in Tifton. That would take about one semester.”

With an associate’s degree, students are able to transfer to a four-year college.

Students have a choice of about 18 to 20 classes per semester in Moultrie.

At its main campus, ABAC offers eight bachelor’s programs that include agriculture, agriculultural education, biology, business and economic development, environmental horticulture, natural resource management, nursing and rural studies. It also offers an associate’s of science in nursing.

Among the 326 graduates in June 2105 at ABAC’s Tifton campus were 17 Colquitt Countians, with graduates hailing from Coolidge, Doerun, Hartsfield, Moultrie and Norman Park.

The degrees they earned included agriculture, education, nursing, environmental horticulture, animal sciences and business administration.

ABAC graduates more than 100 registered nurses each year.

Another offering in Moultrie is the Move on When Ready Program.

This program offers dual enrollment courses so that students can earn up to two full years of college credit while they are in high school, Willis said.

“We do offer courses at Colquitt County High School or students can choose to come to ABAC on the Square,” she said.

One advantage parents also will like is that ABAC has a traditionally high rate of graduation among the state’s four-year colleges.

As a college that supports agriculture, the largest industry in the state, ABAC is a natural for Coluitt County, one of the bigest agricultural producers in Georgia.

Despite its location in Southern Georgia, students at ABAC will mingle with more than their high school classmates or neighbors from nearby counties. The college has enrolees from nearly every county in the state and attracts students from more than 15 other states and more than 20 countries.