For the first time, the total cost of attending Carnegie Mellon University will top $50,000 a year for entering undergraduate students living on campus.

Carnegie Mellon trustees yesterday approved a tiered undergraduate pricing system that raises yearly tuition by 6 percent for entering students and 4 percent for those already enrolled.

Beginning in fall 2008, entering students will pay $39,150 a year in tuition. With room, board, fees, books and other expenses, the total cost of attendance is estimated at $52,075 for students entering this fall.

William Elliott, Carnegie Mellon's vice president for enrollment, says the most important issue is quality.

"This is trying to sustain, maintain and improve the quality of Carnegie Mellon," he said.

"I'm more interested in the quality of what Carnegie Mellon is all about than being embarrassed about the cost or trying to justify the cost," he said.

Not all colleges and universities have announced their rates for the coming year, so it's hard to say how this compares. However, for this school year's tuition and fees, the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Carnegie Mellon's the 10th highest in the nation at $37,354. Even with the increase for next year, Carnegie Mellon tuition and fees are below the top of this year's list, Landmark College, at $41,275.

For returning Carnegie Mellon students, annual tuition will be $38,430 for those who entered in 2007; $37,000 for those who entered in 2006; and $35,780 for those who entered in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Room costs for all students will increase 4.1 percent to $5,860. Board will rise by 4.1 percent to $4,160.

Fees were raised to $604, an increase of $10.

That brings total tuition, room, board and fees for students entering this fall to $49,774.

However, the cost of attendance calculated by each institution also includes books and supplies as well as personal and miscellaneous expenses, and, with those, the figure for a resident student tops $50,000, not counting the cost of travel to get there.

Carnegie Mellon hasn't updated its estimates for fall, but the Carnegie Mellon Web site for this school year shows additional costs of $2,301, counting:

• $966, estimated for books and supplies

• $1,335, estimated for personal and miscellaneous expenses

That brings the total for tuition, room, board, fees and other costs of attendance to $52,075 for students entering this fall.

The cost for students who entered fall 2007 also will top $50,000, with a total cost of attendance of $51,355.

For this school year, Carnegie Mellon's Web site lists of the cost of attendance as $49,505 but notes that students in architecture, art and design usually spend $490 more on supplies.

Housing costs are based on a standard double, and some students save some money in triple or quad units.

Some schools -- such as Harvard and Princeton -- have been announcing changes that would eliminate loans for some students and replace them with grants.

The Project on Student Debt lists more than 40 schools that have pledged to limit or eliminate student loans as part of the financial aid package and reduce costs for students.

On Wednesday, Stanford University announced that parents with incomes of less than $100,000 will no longer pay tuition, and those with incomes below $60,000 won't be expected to pay for tuition, room, board and some other expenses. Students still will be expected to contribute income they earn during the summer and school year.

Dr. Elliott said Carnegie Mellon does not have a large enough endowment to permit it to do the same.

However, he said, Carnegie Mellon is following a long-standing policy of increasing student aid with the tuition increase.

"Our financial aid will, in fact, go up commensurate with the increase in tuition," he said.

If a student's financial need remains exactly the same, then that student may be offered more grants, loans or both as the sticker price goes up.

More than 63 percent of Carnegie Mellon students receive financial aid.

Carnegie Mellon remains in high demand. As of Feb. 1, the school had received 21,747 applications for 1,360 spots in the freshman class.

"The number of applications tells us that students value what we deliver -- an interdisciplinary, diverse, international approach to education that is also of great quality," Dr. Elliott said.