Preschool advocates and operators say families have been forced to cut back. They may move from a nationally accredited preschool to a less vaunted center or cut back on the hours or days their children are enrolled. Other families forgo licensed preschool altogether, leaving children with neighbors or keeping them at home.

"People are under increasing fmancial pressure, so they're looking for any way possible to make their budgets work," said Jason Sabo, senior vice president for public policy at the United Ways ofTexas.

The preschool at First Presbyterian Church has a reputation for always being full. For some expectant mothers, the call to the First Presbyterian admissions office is one ofthe first they make.

There's still a waiting list at the school, which serves about 70 children, including infants and toddlers.

"But I would say, especially for the older children, it's gotten smaller," Director Sandy Blanco said.

Some of that is because of efforts at the school to make more spaces available where the demand is greatest, but some of it is because of the economy, Blanco said.

"I'd say once a month in the last seven or eight months we've seen someone lose a job or have to move to keep a job and they have to pull their child out," she said.

A survey by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies found that the number of families that had trouble making child care payments increased in the second half of 2008. The demand for part-time care also increased.

But Jennifer Dhaemers, owner and director of San Antonio's Giant Steps Early Learning School, said many of her families have switched from part time to full time as stay-at-home mothers returned to work.

That was the case for Marina Hamm, whose son had attended the preschool just three days a week until March, when Hamm took a full-time job.

"It's kept the budget tight, definitely," she said.

San Antonio Independent School District was overwhelmed in the past week when thousands of parents arrived at the Alamodome hoping to register their children for tuition-free preschool. The majority of spots go to poor children, although others, such as kids in foster families, also qualifY.

"Working families need high-quality, consistent, reliable child care so their kids can get ready to go to school and so those

families can go to work," said the United Ways' Sabo, an advocate for increased access to quality preschool.

In conversations with preschool providers across San Antonio, some say applications are steady, but others say the impact of the recession is clear.

At the Montessori School of San Antonio, parents are continuing to enroll their children in the preschool program, but requests for tuition assistance are up, business manager Ralph Huber said.

The situation is similar at The Circle School. The preschool program has a waiting list, but director Blanca Luna said the number of families asking about barter positions is also on the rise. Some families have pulled their children from the school for financial reasons. One family moved away for a job.

Because The Circle School is a co-op, families typically pitch in at the school, but a handful of parents take on extra duties in exchange for cuts in tuition.

"I would say that if we dido't have these part-time positions, these barter positions, there would be families that would not be able to send their children here," Luna said.

Paul Lewis, whose son attends elementary school there, enrolled his daughter in the preschool program but later reconsidered. Lewis said that although the family's income did not change, unexpected expenses including home repairs influenced their decision. "We just looked at our budget and said that's going to be too expensive