PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Not a week passes without Jan Abushakrah getting calls from students who want to come to Portland Community College to find themselves.

Not a surprise, considering that's what college is for. But the people on the other end of the phone aren't fresh-faced youths just out of high school.

"They call and say, 'I am in my 40s or 50s and I am looking to reinvent myself. I want to do something that feeds my soul, where I can make a mark,"' says Abushakrah, director of PCC's gerontology program. "This is what we're hearing from our older students all the time."

Record numbers of mid-life adults are enrolling in Portland Community College's credit programs to learn new skills. It's part of a national trend where 40-, 50- and 60-year-olds are leaving old careers that paid mortgages, sent kids to college and put the SUV out front for what are being called "encore careers."

They are headed back to school to shed high-stress jobs, rebound from a layoff or an economy that has siphoned their savings, or move away from physical work that aging bodies no longer can endure.

Pinched pensions and rising health care costs mean baby boomers expect to work past the retirement age of their parents. But older and wiser, many are choosing to earn paychecks from jobs where the focus is personal happiness, not career status.

"You look at your own mortality," Abushakrah says. "You see older people drop dead at work and say, 'Do I want to do that, or would I rather be living a life that is going to help me live longer and be more in touch with who I am?' Perhaps they don't want to work 60 hours a week anymore or do manual work anymore."

She points to Bill Gates -- who recently stepped down as head of Microsoft to devote his time to his philanthropic foundation -- and Al Gore -- who left politics to crusade against global warming -- as boomers who sought more fulfilling encore careers.

A 2007 federal study found 29 percent of 55- to 59-year-olds plan to work beyond 65. In another study last year by AARP, nearly 40 percent of workers over 60 reported they'd retired from a previous career.

A 2007 PCC study found that one in six PCC students enrolled in credit courses is older than 40 and that four in five wanted to upgrade their skills, re-enter the work force or change careers. Four in 10 already had a degree.

A majority of the students in the gerontology program Abushakrah directs are old enough to have been flower children -- or the parents of flower children. Nursing and social services also attract a lot of older students.

Clackamas Community College is experiencing its own boomer surge. Enrollment for students 50 and older spiked more than 70 percent in the last three years and 34 percent in the last year.

"People are looking at new careers because they may be augmenting a retirement or they may not be ready to retire and want to start something new," says Anne Donelson, Clackamas Community College public relations director.

Community colleges provide a natural fit for older adults to segue into a new career. Students don't have to commit to a long degree program but can take a few classes or earn a certificate, whether they've had prior college or not. Many community colleges accommodate the working student with evening and online courses.

To keep up, PCC is adding state-recognized certificate programs geared toward boomers, such as horticultural therapy or recreational consulting. The need for adult programs will only grow.

"In many ways this is uncharted territory," Abushakrah says. "We feel this is the tip of the iceberg."