Lesley Garaycochea didn't see it coming.
She did all the "right" things, including going to school, going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and marrying a man she loved. Two weeks into her first year of accounting classes at LDS Business College, she found out she was pregnant.
"I did everything I could before he came," she said, adding that she squeezed two years of course work into 12 months to get an associate degree. "It was one of the most challenging things I've ever done."
Garaycochea ended up as valedictorian of her graduating class. Now she's a single mom with two kids.
Many single moms find themselves without options and end up struggling to make ends meet, but a local foundation, designed to help women breadwinners bring home the bacon, is aiming to send more of them to college.
Fortunately, Garaycochea had obtained education and training necessary for her to be successful on her own, because "child support doesn't even come close to covering all that two children need to live," she said.
"It's so important, for anyone, women included, to have an education, because you never know where life is going to lead you," Garaycochea said. She eventually wants to obtain a bachelor's degree in her field, to increase her salary and help make ends meet at home. But the goal is on hold as she puts the needs of her children, now ages 7 and 11, first.
Her situation is rare, according to Brent Bishop, founder and former CEO of All-a-Dollar and the Greenbacks Bringing Hope Foundation — which has morphed into the Single Moms Foundation, now administrated by the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority. Counting on child support and an ex-husband to come through isn't always healthy for single moms.
"They are often victimized in their own expectation," he said. "Until they get rid of the need for men in their life to solve all their problems, they cannot be healthy."
Without a family or community network in place, the issues single moms face, including finding affordable housing, safe day care, health care and transportation, are often insurmountable, Bishop says. He said the most reliable solution, which is addressed by the Single Moms Foundation, is to help them work toward getting an education and becoming self-reliant.
"There is a tremendous change in their confidence level," Bishop said. "It doesn't happen overnight, and sometimes it might take years, but the difference is tremendous."
Romina Artaza has found confidence in going back to school, but she said she couldn't have done it without the help of the foundation.
"It took me a year to make the decision, but I realized how important it was to go to school and get a degree," she said. Like her mother and her sisters, she had never planned on going to college. She was married at 17 and pregnant before she could even graduate high school.
"From that time on, it was all about raising a child and working full time," Artaza said. "I was just in the mode of going to work and bringing home a paycheck."
She had no idea how to even apply or get started into college, and after a divorce, she was left working her full-time job at a nonprofit organization. With the drop in the economy, she was laid off. She found help from UHEAA and was able to learn "how to go to school for the first time," she said.
She attended a local conference, applied for scholarships and now attends two classes at Westminster College.
"I need to do this for so many reasons, but mostly for myself," she said. Finding time to do homework is difficult with her two kids at home, but she likes the fact that she's being a role model and example to them.
"It's the scariest thing I've ever done in my life, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done," Artaza said. "Education is the only way to improve your life and make yourself better."
The foundation helps single moms determine what to study, where to study and how to pay for it, the three biggest questions of that population, Bishop said. It started out offering everything a single mom might need, but settled on offering help with education because, he said, it's the highest priority that will lead to self-reliance and "no matter what, it can change their lives for the better."
More online
The Single Moms Foundation can be found online at www.uheaa.org/singlemom
e-mail: wleonard@desnews.com