Kris Oberg, a Kearney divorced mother of three is working hard to achieve the good life Nebraskans have heard about so often.

She is celebrating her 31st birthday today by going to classes at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, working at Speedee Mart and possibly taking her kids — ages 9, 7, and 7 months — out to dinner.

Oberg’s young Nebraska family is one example of many low-income working families facing challenges that could be helped by a list of recommendations released today by Nebraska Appleseed for Law in the Public Interest, a nonprofit, nonpartisan law project started in 1996.

Despite the state’s dedication to building the “good life,” the report says, Nebraska faces several challenges including a slowing economy, outmigration, increasing global competition and a lack of quality, higher-paying jobs.

Nebraska Appleseed, which promotes self-sufficiency for working poor families, is recommending a number of ways to improve education for these families, develop the state’s workforce and support low-income workers.

The good life is vulnerable, the report says, because 63,000 or more Nebraska families are struggling to meet basic needs, even though adults in the families are working.

Oberg has three semesters of school left before she can find a job — she has her fingers crossed — as a middle-school math and science teacher. In the meantime, she has to help her own kids with homework, piece together a jigsaw of child care and juggle bill paying and household responsibilities.

It’s hard to keep asking for help, Oberg said. But she doesn’t know what she would do without food stamps and the health insurance the state provides for her little ones, she said. She doesn’t have health insurance for herself.

She went back to school because at times when she was working full time, she was making $8.50 an hour with no benefits, but did not qualify for state assistance in needed areas.

One of the biggest challenges has been to find infant care, Oberg said. She’s heard the waiting list at UNK is two to three years.

“If I didn’t have a support system of friends and family, it would be a lot more stressful and I don’t know if I could continue to go to school,” she said.

Childcare and health insurance assistance would help Oberg and many other low-income Nebraskans, said Kate Bolz, community educator for Nebraska Appleseed. But Nebraska has the 49th lowest eligibility level for childcare in the country, and the 34th lowest health care assistance to working parents.

The 2009 poverty guideline is $20,050 for a family of four. Eligibility for child care assistance should be at 200 percent of the poverty level, Appleseed recommends. Parent eligibility for Medicaid should be at 100 percent of the poverty level, instead of 59 percent.

Alfred Pettinger, who teaches life and career skills with Lincoln Action Program, said many Nebraskans are working hard, but still can’t make ends meet.

When people can move from poverty to self sufficiency, they contribute to resources in the state rather than drain them, Pettinger said. Their children stand a better chance of growing up happy and healthy, and becoming contributing members of the state. Crime rates go down.

The people he works with could be helped by proposals that would expand opportunities for clients with Aid to Dependent Children to pursue associate degrees and higher-paying jobs. Currently, they have only 12 months to work on associate degrees, while most are two-year programs.

“They are cut off halfway through their programs,” Pettinger said.

Nebraska has enough entry level jobs, Pettinger said, but don’t have enough jobs that allow people to support their families without assistance.

Kathleen Fimple, with the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, said as many low-income students as possible should have access to education beyond high school.

While the state has made great strides in the past few years on providing need-based grants and scholarships, “it’s just not enough,” she said.

One issue is that many grants and scholarships use the same eligibility guidelines as federal Pell grants. And many students of low-income working parents fall barely outside of those guidelines, making them ineligible for financial aid.

“Measuring Up 2008, the National Report Card on Higher Education,” gave Nebraska a grade of “F” in higher education affordability, saying poor and working-class families must devote 37 percent of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at public, four-year colleges.

Financial aid for low-income students is low, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, which does the analysis. For every dollar in federal Pell Grant aid, Nebraska spends only 19 cents.

Many students, including the state’s immigrants, need basic skills and GEDs before they can even progress to the next step of college.

Yesenia Hernandez, 31, and Yadira Pineda, 25, are working on math and basic skills at Lincoln Southeast Community College.

Hernandez’s family moved to California from Guatemala when she was 14. But she dropped out of school in 10th grade because of poor English skills, she said.

Hernandez got married at age 16 and had a child at 17. She moved to Lincoln in 1995 with her husband and child, and worked in cleaning jobs — all the while improving her English. Hernandez divorced in 1999 and in 2003 married a Nebraska man. He encouraged her to return to school, get a GED and then a college degree.

In a year she has progressed from basic math to algebra. She wants to be a social worker.

Pineda, who has two tests left to get her GED, is working toward cosmetology school.

If she wants her 6-year-old son to have a better life, she said, she must serve as his role model.

Both women say it’s hard, but people should take every opportunity to improve their chances for a better job.

“It’s never too late,” Pineda said. “There’s never a bad time to start school. … No matter if it’s hard. Nothing should stop you.“

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.