Wayne Meyer knows the meaning of having “skin in the game” when it comes to paying for a college education.

Meyer is 78 and retired. But he explained in an email to me that after dropping out of high school to join the Marine Corps, he eventually earned his GED. And while working full-time, he attended night school for 12 years, ending up with an undergraduate degree and a law degree.

“It wasn’t as difficult as it may sound,” Meyer said.

Meyer was responding to my recent column about finding last-minute ways to pay for college. “Why are the only solutions offered relying on loans or asking your parents to go into debt for you,” he asked. “Why is it no one mentions working your way through college or going to junior college for two years like I did?”

My reaction was, “Well, right on.” Times have changed and college tuition has gone through the roof, but there’s a lot to be said for students finding creative solutions to making college affordable, including having some of their own money — and sweat — on the line.

Turns out that a growing number of students and their parents are hearing those messages loud and clear, based on the latest annual report on “How America Pays for College” from Sallie Mae and Ipsos Public Affairs.

The survey results were based on interviews with 800 parents of children enrolled as undergraduate students and 800 undergraduate students.

It may seem obvious that parents would want their children to have some financial skin in the game before making a potentially $200,000 investment in four or more years of college tuition and all the related bills. But according to Sallie Mae, paying for college has historically “seemed to be a decision driven by parents.”

Not anymore. “Paying for college ... is becoming more of a family decision, with students and parents equally sharing in the costs,” the higher education financial services company said in its 10th annual nationwide survey.

For example, the survey noted, about three-quarters of the student respondents are working to help pay for college; 55 percent have a job year-round.

And in another step to sock money away, students acknowledged reducing their personal spending in 68 percent of the families surveyed. Parents cut their spending in 47 percent of the families.

The survey also points to more students feeling more responsible for repaying student loans: 85 percent said they were solely responsible for repayment.

All in all, however, the Sallie Mae survey was a good news/bad news story.

Seven in 10 families surveyed in 2017 eliminated a college from consideration at some point in the selection process because of cost. By comparison, Sallie Mae said, in 2008 only 58 percent of families said they crossed a school off the list because of cost.

Ninety-eight percent of families took proactive measures to reduce college costs, including choosing an in-state school, living at home instead of on campus and enrolling in accelerated programs to gain college credits while in high school.

Nearly 90 percent of the families surveyed are seeking financial aid, up from 74 percent in 2008. In addition, student borrowing is up this year, Sallie Mae noted, after being unusually lower in 2016.

Many parents still are not doing any advance planning to pay for all years of college. Sallie Mae has been asking this question since 2010, and the number of families being proactive continues to hover at around four in 10.

As Wayne Meyer is well aware, even a little planning for college costs can go a long way.

Questions, comments, column ideas? Send an email to sbrosen1030@

gmail.com.