SAN MARCOS ---- Parents of the more than 50 children at a preschool affiliated with Cal State San Marcos were told Wednesday the school's future is in doubt.

They also learned that the fate of the school, the Early Learning Center just off campus on Twin Oaks Valley Road, could be sealed as early as Friday afternoon.

That is when the board of Associated Students Inc., the student government organization at the university that provides a subsidy to run the school, is scheduled to decide whether to continue its support. ASI has subsidized the school since 1999.

ASI president Honey Folk said the center faces rising costs at the same time the student government budget is forecast to shrink. All the while, she said, requests are escalating for the ASI to support a range of other campus activities.

Complicating matters is the fact that the lease on the school property, held by the City of San Marcos, is set to end July 31.

Calling it a "very, very important issue for all of us," Folk told some 50 parents that no decisions have been reached about the center and that she wanted to hear their views in advance of Friday's meeting.

Said one parent, CSUSM student Michelle Walker, "I think this is something ASI got involved with years ago for all the right reasons. I don't think that should be lost sight of."

Walker and other parents said they were skeptical that they could come up with solutions in two days. But even though the center is on ASI's agenda Friday as an action item, student government executive vice president John Gehris said there was a likelihood a vote could be put off until April.

The ASI provides about $100,000 a year to support the preschool's estimated $300,000 annual budget, said ASI interim executive director Lura Poggi. Students with children at the center pay $25 a day in tuition; faculty, staff and community members pay $30.

The subsidy comes from an ASI budget of some $1 million derived from student fees of $50 per semester. Poggi said revenues could fall 10 percent to 12 percent next year.

ASI president Folk said "every single aspect" of the ASI budget, not just the preschool, is up for scrutiny.

It was not clear Wednesday just how much money would be needed to operate the early learning center next school year at current levels.

Parents were told the figures would be available at Friday's meeting, set for 3 p.m. at the Clarke Field House.

Said Darci L. Strother, a CSUSM world languages professor who has two children at the center and who serves as an adviser to the preschool's parent-teacher group, "I will bring my sons to class so the students that don't have children and don't think child care is an issue can see what child care is all about. I will change my son's diapers on the floor of the president of the university's office if I have to."

In an e-mail sent Wednesday to CSUSM President Karen S. Haynes and Provost Robert Sheath, Strother said closing the center would bring "devastating consequences" and deprive children of a "nurturing, supportive and creative learning environment" in "truly one of our 'campus jewels.' "

Cal State San Marcos is seeking grant money to build a new early learning center that would be affiliated with the College of Education. If all went well, said Poggi, that school would still not open until 2007.

Two years ago, the ASI voted not to seek renewal of two state grants totaling $150,000 that paid about a third of the center's costs.

Student government leaders said at the time that restrictions attached to those grants cost $85,000. They said the preschool would be a more sound financial footing instead with higher tuition, which was raised by $5 a day.