At Sacramento Country Day School – a private school that draws many of the area's more affluent families – financial aid requests are up.

The school is doling out more than $850,000 of need-based aid a year, up from $500,000 just three years ago.

The spike is a sign of the times, say school officials across Sacramento, as private schools, even those with hefty endowments, are being forced to tighten their belts in light of the economic downturn.

School endowments have taken a hit, and enrollment numbers are expected to fall, as parents reconsider their ability to afford the price tag for private education.

"It's much like the rest of the folks in the country looking at the stock market; no one is quite sure where we're headed," said Country Day headmaster Stephen Repsher. "Any school would be well advised to plan for alternatives should the economy have an impact on enrollment."

At Country Day – where tuition costs as much as $17,300 a year – administrators are already taking steps to buy cheaper school supplies, save energy and reduce gas consumption in school vehicles.

Private school enrollment season generally doesn't hit full swing until January, and though administrators say they don't expect a dip in applications, alternative budget plans are being drawn up just in case.

Still, Repsher said, after more than four decades in Sacramento, Country Day has built a strong fundraising base. The school has an endowment of about $1 million, and roughly $4 million of unrestricted cash reserves to cushion hits from a rough economy.

It's the schools that haven't been around as long that will suffer the worst, said Repsher.

"They don't have as broad a constituency to be there for them should there be a downturn," he said.

At Girls' School Sacramento, a small all-girls campus in West Sacramento that opened last summer, administrators are grappling with a $50,000 budgetary shortfall.

A major investor pulled out a few months ago, forcing the school to scramble for funds. Staff members are applying for grants, soliciting support from local casinos and other businesses, and hosting fundraisers. In the meantime, employees are forgoing their paychecks, said teacher Keara Smith.

"Initially, the strategy was to get a small-business loan if any investors pulled out," Smith said. "But there's no small-business loans out there right now. There's just nothing out there right now."

Many private-school families are struggling with finances more than the schools themselves, say financial planners. Even the more affluent are having a tougher time affording private education for their kids.

"Private school tuition is mostly just taken out of cash flow, and that's the first thing you'd have to look pretty hard at," said Tina Florence, a financial planner at Lane Florence, LLC in Folsom. "It's a discretionary expense."

Florence said several of her clients, all of whom make at least $100,000 a year, are considering taking their kids out of private schools.

Others, formerly in households with one spouse staying home, are out looking to add a part-time salary, as a safety net in case the economy continues to sour.

"These folks are fine. They're well-off, but here's the tradeoff. If things are going to get tighter, we think it's more of a priority to have the money for college than the primary years," Florence said.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that many schools' endowments have taken a beating in the market decline, forcing administrators to consider cutting financial aid if the economy doesn't recover soon.

At Jesuit High School in Sacramento, school officials have seen their financial aid endowment – valued at $10 million in January – shrink to $7 million.

Just under a fifth of students there receive financial aid, and though school administrators are not planning cuts for the coming year, chief financial officer Hal Turner said they may be forced to if the market fails to rebound.

"We're two years away from significant cuts," Turner said.

At Cristo Rey High School, a Catholic program in Sacramento, administrators are facing roadblocks in their effort to maintain their signature support for low-income families.

The school offers students college prep education along with work experience at local businesses. The five days a month that students put in at entry-level jobs cover roughly 80 percent of their tuition.

But local businesses, already stretched thin, are beginning to pull their support for the next school year.

"It's just a challenge to get new jobs," said principal Joe Poggi. "The water hole gets a little smaller, but everyone's still trying to drink."

Parents at Cristo Rey – many of whom work in the service industry, one of the hardest hit in the economic downturn – are making sacrifices to keep their kids at the school.

Marisol Aviles has a daughter in the ninth grade at Cristo Rey. Her husband is a plumbing supervisor, working as many overtime hours as possible, and she recently found a part-time job cleaning motel rooms to supplement the family income. Still, they're behind on tuition payments.

"We have four kids, and they have to wait more time for new clothes and shoes," Aviles said. "As a family, we're all doing sacrifices for my daughter. You keep those grades up, and we're going to do the sacrifices."

Call The Bee's Robert Faturechi, (916) 321-1098.