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Higher education is on a high in New Hampshire, with undergraduates at record levels and an enrollment spike in graduate programs. Yet, “continuing education” programs are on an unexpected plateau. Why? Chalk it up to a graying populace.

“Some numbers on continuing education are softer than in the past,” says Thomas R. Horgan, president and chief executive officer of New Hampshire college and University Council. “We’re facing some challenges in that New Hampshire is a rapidly aging state.”

Horgan predicts that will change – and soon – as the business community puts more emphasis on education and training for the state’s older work force. The reason, he adds, is the number of New Hampshire high school graduates is projected to decline over the next 10 years.

Companies continue to offer incentives for employees to pursue a degree, and many are taking advantage of workplace training to increase employee skill-sets. The Work force Opportunity Council administers training funds of up to $5,000 a grant to businesses in categories that include manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, and information technology. “You could probably label any education after high school a kind of work force training,” says Dennis Delay, special projects director for the Work force Opportunity Council. He estimates two-thirds of graduate-level students are classified as part-time students, indicative of their efforts to balance an existing job while hitting the books yet again.

With an estimated 50 percent of high school graduates heading out of state for college, many of whom never to return, there is an infamous brain drain among New Hampshire’s youth. Still, Horgan notes, the state is a vital part of New England as the celebrated “brain capital of the nation” because of the high rate of college graduates.”

A positive development, he says, is the increase in the number of students returning to college to complete their first degrees. Too, the business community is working closely with post-secondary institutions to improve communications and educational opportunities.

It is a supply-and-demand matter, in part, because today’s workplace demands higher skills. But it is also a collective embrace and recognition by the private sector and political establishment that higher education is the true “New Hampshire Advantage,” not simply economic benefits derived from the lack of a state sales tax and an income tax.

Public and private institutions for higher education combine for an annual $3.5 billion economic impact, according to the 2005 New Hampshire Forum on Higher Education.

“It’s one of New Hampshire’s biggest industries and it’s the cornerstone for leveraging New Hampshire’s future,” says Horgan.

To that end, many companies offer tuition reimbursement programs for their employees. Some even offer advanced degree programs on site. Horgan notes the initiatives create greater loyalty while building a work force on a known quantity.

Times have changed, too, in that even 10 years ago a person in their 50s would not think about returning to college to pursue a different degree. But now a 50-year-old may recognize they will be living and working longer, and that an advanced education would mean a better job and better pay over the course of 10 or 20 years.

The state has its sights set on another challenge: filling anticipated job openings through 2010. Research conducted by Ross Gittell, the James R. Carter Professor at UNH’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, shows that there must be a 180 percent annual increase in bachelor’s degrees from New Hampshire institutions to fill jobs in the information services sector.

Other sectors and their annual percentage increase are: 80 percent for education jobs, 70 percent for health and biological science jobs, 50 percent for engineering-, physical-, scientific-, and math- related jobs, and 20 percent for business and management jobs, according to the New Hampshire Forum on Higher Education titled, “Higher Education: The Cornerstone to New Hampshire’s Prosperity.”

Most of the state’s highly educated workers today are closer to ending their careers than they are to starting them, the report notes. Other New Hampshire challenges cited included:

– In U.S., third highest in tuition and fees at colleges and universities;

– 49th in the nation in state funding of higher education as a percent of state budget;

– Percentage of working-age adults who are enrolled part-time in college education or training has declined 20 percent over the past decade, compared to the national rate of 11 percent.

Just as a generation ago when men and women typically expected to keep one or two jobs for their lifetimes, there is widespread acceptance today among employees and employers that the knowledge economy requires continuing education, says Christine King, a career specialist in the academic and career advising office at Keene State College.

“It’s definitely lifelong learning,” says King, a former investment banker.

King says the changing economy and global market is reason enough for some workers to return to college for a master’s degree or to learn a second language, or to seek advanced computer skills, everything from Microsoft Access to create and manage computer-based databases to graphic skills using Adobe and HTML.

The better degree, the more money people make, according to U.S. Census statistics. Based on Census reports on potential lifetime earnings, a high school graduate makes $1.2 million. Lifetime earnings increase dramatically with advanced education: bachelor’s degree is $2.1 million, a master’s degree is $2.5 million, a professional degree is $4.4 million, and a doctorate degree $3.4 million.

King is also one of the state university system’s new liaisons to the business community, announced in May in an effort to expand access to higher education and build relationships with New Hampshire companies. King says she has fielded calls from businesses interested in interns and prospective employees. “Every campus is unique, which can be challenging,” she says.

Public and private colleges and universities are onboard, building partnerships with businesses and reassessing program offerings to be responsive and competitive. The state university system is taking additional steps to make it easier for companies to leverage campus resources – both its research components and its students.

Southern New Hampshire University this year named former Manchester Mayor Robert Baines as its first “executive-in-residence,” a snappy title that finds Baines working on regional economic development and on a statewide dual enrollment program to promote college options for high school students.

“It’s a competitive market,” he says.