Rochester, N.Y. - The Flesch family budget is tight.
Their child care expense is not for one, but two kids, a four-year-old and a three-month-old.
"It's about $425 to $450 a week," said Sean Flesch.
That's almost as much as the family pays in rent once a month.
The family has grown accustomed to making due with what they have.
"We don't go out to dinner, we don't go out to movies, doing a lot of fixing things, my grandmother taught me how to sew, so instead of buying clothes, we're sewing here and there," Flesch said.
Quality of child care is becoming increasingly difficult to afford for working families.
A report from the National Association of Child Care says that the average annual cost for center based child care for an infant was higher than a year's tuition at a four year public college.
I called several day care centers, the average cost per week is $215.50 for one child.
That's a little more than $11,000 a year.
Compare that to a SUNY school where just tuition is $5,270 for the year, which doesn't include room and board and other fees.
Single mother Christina Rohr is bearing those costs alone.
"It's hard, I'm not going to lie," said Rohr.
Rohr spends $210 a week for her toddler's daycare.
"I don't go out to eat, I don't spend money on friends, family or clothes for myself, so I pretty much sacrifice everything for her and I would never change anything in the world for that," said Rohr.
On top of her daughter's child care costs, little Ella has Celiac Disease and can only eat Gluten free foods.
"Gluten food is almost three times what normal food costs are, a loaf of bread is almost $6, it gets very expensive," Rohr says.
While the Flesch and Rohr families see the cost of child care as a sacrifice, they also see it as an investment.
"I would never change anything in the world for that," said Rohr.
Giving parents hope for an outcome that outweighs the costs by far, a quality education preparing kids for beyond.
Because of these costs, many parents are seeking alternatives, but are those alternatives coming at the cost of a child's quality of education?
Tune in Tuesday night at 5pm on 13WHAM for a closer look at the daycare dilemma.
