Colleges and universities in NH are increasingly targeting adult learners, in particular the roughly 92,000 Granite Staters who have some college education, but no degree.
“That’s a group that we’re hearing schools talk about,” says Debby Scire, president of the NH College & University Council, a nonprofit that represents 21 institutions.
Colleges and universities in NH face a tough market, with fewer young college attendees and plenty of competition due to the high number of schools in New England.
The number of young people enrolled in K-12 education in the state has declined about 20% over the past two decades, meaning fewer new high school graduates headed to college. The percentage of recent graduates going to college has also dropped in the Granite State, even as it’s risen slightly nationally. Currently, 61% of NH grads enroll in college right after high school, compared to about 63% nationally, according to The National Center for Higher Education
Management Systems.
New Hampshire students who choose college have a plethora of options, including going out of state for school without being too far from home.
As a result, at many NH institutions enrollment is down. The University System of NH (USNH), which includes the University of NH (UNH), UNH School of Law, Plymouth State University and Keene State College, reported a nearly 14% reduction in full-time enrollment between 2019 and 2022, though enrollment is up “a hair” this year, according to Kim DeRego, vice provost of enrollment at UNH.
Though widespread, the trend is not universal, especially for Ivy League schools not as reliant on in-state students. Dartmouth College, for example, saw a record number of applicants for the class of 2028, admitting students from every state and 68 countries. Institutions without Ivy League clout are looking to diversify their student populations by targeting adult learners, using online classes to reach students around the country, and offering dual enrollment opportunities for local high school students.
“One of the advantages of this [demographic] disadvantage is we know what’s coming,” DeRego says. “We’re really working hard to get those students.”
Targeting Adult Learners
Two years ago, the USNH acquired Granite State College, making more than 40 online classes available to students. “That was a huge benefit to us, and to students in the state of New Hampshire,” DeRego says.
Using the newly expanded access to online classes, UNH is planning to contact people who started a degree at the college, but never graduated. Many of these people withdrew for reasons ranging from family demands to financial constraints, but are still interested in finishing their degrees.
“They can’t move back into the residence halls in Durham like they would have 10 years ago, but they can do it online,” DeRego says.
In 2024, there are 92,467 Granite Staters who completed some college credits but did not obtain a degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, representing a significant market not just for UNH, but the entire system. “The whole [University System of NH] is moving in that direction as well,” DeRego says.
The Community College System of NH is continuing to serve another demographic of adult learners: people who already hold a degree but are switching fields. Roughly 20% of nursing students within the system hold a bachelor’s degree, according to Chancellor Mark Rubinstein.
For these learners, community colleges serve as “educational bridges that help working adults make transitions from where they happen to be in their career to a different opportunity,” Rubinstein says.
That’s especially important as technology gives rise to new industries and new workforce demands. “People who may have already gone through school shouldn’t be and can’t be left out of those opportunities,” he says.
Appealing to High School Students
While many schools are making efforts to attract adult students, there are also campaigns to appeal to another demographic: students still in high school or those graduating but not quite ready for college.
UNH is exploring pathway programs for students interested in college but not yet ready for college-level classes, DeRego says. That involves “admitting students who we’re confident can be successful,” and supporting them with summer programs, academic supports and spring starts that allow them to use the fall semester to better prepare for college.
At the Community College System of NH, enrollment dropped overall during the past decade, but participation in dual enrollment programs—where high school students take college classes—increased, says Rubinstein. Last year, roughly 10,400 high schoolers were enrolled in community college courses.
Under such programs, students can take a course for $50 per credit (as opposed to $200 per credit for traditional learners). The state will fund up to two credits per high school student per year. These classes are designed at the college level, but often taught in local high schools, making them easily accessible to students.
Dual enrollment is “essential” not only to offer families a more affordable option for higher education, but also to fulfill workforce shortages at school districts in the state. When Franklin High School didn’t have a chemistry teacher, it partnered with Lakes Region Community College to provide a college-level chemistry course to 15 students. “I envision that becoming a larger set of opportunities,” Rubinstein says. “We’ll prioritize that because we know the need is going to be significant.”
SNHU’s Exponential Rise in Online Learning
One NH institution turned its sights outside NH to become one of the largest nonprofit online colleges in the country: Southern NH University (SNHU).
Over the past 20 years, the private university transformed from a small Manchester campus with about 2,500 students to a sprawling digital university serving roughly 3,700 students in Manchester and 139,000 learners all over the world. According to Tim Whittum, associate vice president for campus admission at SNHU, that includes an increase in recent high school grads from NH opting to take online classes through SNHU.
“More adult learners are going back to school to upskill or change careers, and many traditional-aged students are looking at online options so they can travel or work while pursuing a degree,” says Lauren Keane, spokesperson for SNHU. That’s lead to a 11% year-over-year increase in online student enrollment for undergraduate and graduate programs in recent semesters, she notes.
Among NH schools, SNHU stands out because of its robust online presence. “SNHU is one of the most successful online institutions in the country, if not the most,” says Scire of the NH College & University Council.
SNHU’s dominance in online learning is in some ways a challenge for other schools in the region. Attracting students online is “a pretty expensive game to play,” says DeRego of UNH. “SNHU is in our backyard and has done an amazing job of marketing to the world.”
Recently, SNHU has been using its global marketing reach to attract in-person learners, especially international graduate students, Whittum says. The number of international graduate students learning on-campus in Manchester has increased since 2020, he says.
SNHU isn’t the only school looking further afield to find students. About five years ago, before the pandemic, UNH had a marketing push toward international students, for whom the safety of the Durham campus is a major draw, DeRego says. There was an increase in international students, particularly graduate students from India, but the pandemic upended that effort, and it’s now being explored again.
“We would love to have more students from more countries in the future, and now that we are through this COVID era, hopefully that will increase,” DeRego says.
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