Is daycare my only option at this point?

So my wife and I live in an apartment, and my wife was let go from her job 2 weeks before we picked up our puppy (she is 5 months old now) so she decided just to spend the first 2 months at home with the dog and it was great until money started getting a little tight. She went back to work about a month ago and so we have been crate training her while we’re not home and we have a walker that comes in the middle of the day. We also walk her and play with her for about 45 minutes before leaving to help tire her out and her crate is filled with toys and a Kong. The walker has no complaints but she did point out crying after putting her back in her crate.

So this is where our problem lies; we both have to leave super early in the morning for work (6 am) and we’ve had a couple notes (presumably from the same person) that her barking is excessive in the morning. I installed a camera to monitor her and she cries from when we leave to around 6:30 most days. I’m worried that we’re going to see more complaints against us if she doesn’t settle down faster. I want to put her in daycare but I’m worried about 2 things; one is that her crate training routine will be ruined, and 2 is that the only daycare open at 6 am is $50 per day which would bankrupt us after a couple months.

What do we do?