For Immediate Release
Contact:
Matthew Cookson, 603-862-0904 Matt.cookson@usnh.edu

USNH Chancellor– “We need a tourism-like marketing campaign to encourage more college graduates to stay and work in New Hampshire”

January 18, 2007 – LEE, NH – University System of New Hampshire (USNH) Chancellor Stephen Reno is recommending that higher education, business, and government work together on a comprehensive effort to showcase the state’s employment opportunities and quality of life to encourage more college graduates to live and work in New Hampshire. Chancellor Reno unveiled the “common cause initiative,” which calls for a comprehensive marketing campaign geared to convince 55% percent of college graduates to stay in New Hampshire, as compared to the 50% who stay today. Such a shift could have a significant positive impact on the state’s economy.

If 10% more of these new graduates who planned to leave were to stay and work in New Hampshire, the state would add 629 employees to the workforce and these employees could make a $42M impact on the state’s economy (see chart below). If such an effort were sustained for five years, the cumulative impact would be 3,144 more employees and an economic benefit of $636M. Such a shift could help make New Hampshire a younger state, could stimulate entrepreneurial ideas and new businesses, and have a potential ripple effect on high schools graduates, of which half presently leave New Hampshire to attend college.

Percent of Grads by Sex	# Annual Grads	# Leaving NH Upon Grad	% by sex in Work- force	# in Work- force	10% of Total	Earnings at $45k per yr	1.5x Impact Multiplier
Female (57%)	9,120	4,560	70%	3,192	319	$14,364,000	$21,546,000
Male (43%)	6,880	3,440	90%	3,096	310	$13,932,000	$20,898,000
Totals:	16,000	8,000		6,288	629	$28,296,000	$42,444,000
Cumulative Impact (5 yrs):		$636,660,000
Cumulative # Jobs Filled:		3,144

*70% of female college graduates and 90% of male college graduates are in the workforce; earnings per year are based on a $45,000 annual figure for graduates; 1.5x multiplier represents the leverage of those earnings on the NH economy – Professor Ross Gittell, University of New Hampshire

Major employers in the state seldom need to be reminded of the significant impact an educated workforce brings to the business community. Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, which is home to more than 5,000 associates, offers employment opportunities in the areas of Technology, Customer Service, and Accounting. The majority of Fidelity’s positions require a four-year degree.

“Even though a relatively small number of NH college and university students stay in New Hampshire upon graduation, the state’s high-tech employers, like Fidelity, must still recruit a talented workforce,” said Fidelity’s Merrimack Regional General Manager Alison Stebbins. “With businesses, higher education, and government joining forces to create an awareness campaign, we have an incredible opportunity to ensure our state’s college and university graduates are conscious of the impressive career opportunities located right here in New Hampshire,” adds Stebbins.

Presently, New Hampshire’s most educated workers are closer to ending their careers than starting them. The state’s population is the 6 th oldest in the nation. As Baby Boomers begin to retire, employers are concerned about hiring enough skilled replacements. Annually, more than half of the 16,000 graduates and individuals earning certificates from NH’s colleges and universities leave the state.

“This departure of more than 8,000 educated individuals represents a huge brain drain and only darkens our future employment picture,” Chancellor Reno said. “As a state, we need to encourage more of these people to stay and work in New Hampshire. Even a small shift in the migration rate of our college graduates would have an enormous impact.”

He called for some specific steps to take:

• Survey college juniors and seniors in NH to gain insight into their future plans and why they plan to stay or leave the state upon graduation.
• Assemble a team of representatives from business, the state, and higher education to design and run a “tourism-like” campaign to promote New Hampshire as a home and destination for younger people. This would include an easy-to-navigate web-based inventory of internship opportunities, job openings, profiles of New Hampshire businesses doing “cool and innovative things,” life-style supports (networking groups, recreational and cultural venues and opportunities, affordable housing options), and consistent, sustained media messages.
• Assemble a coalition of representatives from NH business associations and state Chambers of Commerce to develop a central website/data base that showcases businesses and lists employment opportunities geared for recent college graduates.
• Create an online toolkit for businesses to establish internships as well as web-based profiles of students who have done internships and then transitioned into full-time employment here. Provide an on-line “chat opportunity” for the cadre of recent hires to complement this.
• Develop a budget and pursue corporate and private fund-raising to match redirected state and agency funds to support both the campaign structure and its marketing for a five-year trial period.
• Design measurements of the impact of this campaign, including longitudinal surveys of college juniors and seniors and tracking of recent graduates to determine the percentage of migrating students.

“The efforts of other states to ‘tether’ their graduates to local employment through scholarship or forgivable loan programs have had mixed results, often because there are no jobs to match the interests of the graduates,” Chancellor Reno said. “The success of a retention program in Hew Hampshire will depend absolutely on our ability to inventory, post, and market exciting and rewarding jobs, and make students aware of these opportunities in conjunction with the other intangibles that make New Hampshire such a desirable state. It will take more than a village to get this done. It will take a new statewide partnership of business, professional, and community leaders, policy makers, and higher education. New Hampshire is especially well positioned to do this,” he added.

The Board of Trustees of the University System has established as its priority that its colleges and universities will serve as a resource to the state and especially that in cooperation with one another, they will support economic and workforce development. The Chancellor, working with the University System Presidents and in conjunction with the Governor’s recently established Jobs Cabinet, looks forward to discussing and refining this initiative. Anyone interested in assisting with this effort should contact the chancellor’s office by sending an e-mail to chancellor@usnh.edu.

About the University System of New Hampshire:
The mission of the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) is to serve the higher educational needs of the people of New Hampshire. Through its sister institutions (University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Keene State College, and Granite State College), USNH presently serves almost 30,000 students and awards almost half of the bachelor’s degrees earned each year in New Hampshire.

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