A number of the nation's leading colleges have broken the $100,000 barrier for a four-year degree.

Beginning next fall, Harvard freshmen will pay $26,230 a year for tuition, fees, room and board, and Yale students will pay $120 more. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is charging $26,075. Brown is $25,954. Swarthmore is $25,900, and Stanford is the cheapest of the costly at $25,465.Swarthmore's vice president for business and finance, William T. Spock, echoed the feelings of many parents when he remarked, "I'm sure glad my kids are through with college!"

College and university representatives said that this year's cost increases were made with great re-luc-tance.

"We agonize over this every year," said Elizabeth Huidekoper, Harvard's budget director. "Obviously, the $25,000 mark has symbolic significance, but it wasn't a barrier. Any increase is carefully considered."

She continued: "When setting tuition, we look at inflation, median family income, the consumer price index, our financial aid objectives and a great many other factors, including the president's concern that we keep Harvard af-ford-able."

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And she, like other university representatives, was quick to point out that the numbers do not reflect the full story: Many of their students - 67 percent at Harvard and more than half at many others - receive generous helpings of financial aid. At Cornell University, for example, half the students receive financial aid that averages about $10,000 a year.

Nevertheless, many students - generally those who come from families with incomes above $100,000 - are paying the full price. And many others have become part of a phenomenon known as "middle-income melt."

These students would almost certainly have gone to private colleges and universities if prices were lower; instead, they are attending much less expensive public institutions.

The cost of public institutions across the country is rising even more rapidly than those of the private institutions, although, of course, the totals are only a fraction of those at most private colleges and universities.

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