BUTLER TWP — Being a single mom of two children, Rose Dickey found trying to balance school on top of that to be nigh impossible.

“I had tried, but I had a very difficult time trying to fit it into my schedule,” Dickey, 33, of Center Township said.

However, the KEYS (Keystone Education Yields Success) program, a state grant funded program available at all 14 community colleges in the state, is helping her succeed at Butler County Community College.

Karen Jack, program facilitator at BC3, said the program is mostly for students who are on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as well as a very limited number of students on food stamps.

“It's mostly single moms,” Jack said.

At BC3, all of the students in the program who get TANF are single mothers. Currently there are 14.

Students have to be referred to the program by their caseworker at the Department of Public Welfare.

The DPW provides each student up to $1,000 for books and school fees. It does not pay for tuition, so students still need to seek financial aid.

In turn, the college offers incentives such as gas and gift cards, laptop and calculator loan programs, additional tutoring hours and the use of the KEYS computer learning center.

“We really try to just provide that kind of assistance,” Jack said.

Help for child care comes through the DPW's Child Care Information Services.

Jack said the program tries to get students job ready. Workers at the KEYS office at BC3 also try to give students moral support and encouragement.

“We've seen so many success stories,” Jack said.

Dickey, a 1999 Butler High School graduate who has two sons, aged 9 and 13, will graduate on May 21 with an associate degree in business administration.

Before discovering this program, going to school was a challenge, while working 40 hours a week or more in addition to raising her sons.

She has found the program and other programs to be very good for her and was surprised by the amount of support offered.

“Everybody here is extremely supportive,” Dickey said.

In addition to her studies, she works as an intern at the Butler Armco Employees Credit Union in both the BC3 office and the main office. Her dean referred her to the job. Dickey hopes to become full time there.

After graduating from BC3, she will continue her education at Slippery Rock University to get a bachelor's degree in accounting. She would like to enroll there this fall.

Kyrstin Hiwiller, 22, of Butler is about to start a one-year program for a certificate in medical billing. She has a 3-month-old daughter.

A 2009 graduate of Moniteau High School, she has worked minimum wage jobs.

“Living paycheck to paycheck,” Hiwiller said.

She said this was fine until she had her daughter. Before that, she was nervous about trying to go to school.

“I was kind of hesitant,” Hiwiller said.

Without the program, she said she may have been able to go to school, but she said it might be a struggle.

She hasn't even started school yet, and the office has set her up with tutors for her classes and is helping with books.

May will turn out to be a good month for Hiwiller, since she will celebrate her first Mother's Day, turn 23 years old on May 23 and start classes May 27.

“Just making a better life for me and my daughter,” Hiwiller said.