Remember when paying your kid’s college tuition was fun?

Well, maybe “fun” isn’t the perfect descriptor, but putting the entire bill on your credit card and earning an instant free ticket made the burden more convenient and tolerable at least.

This year an estimated 17 percent fewer colleges accepted plastic and a once bittersweet transaction is turning into just another bill pay.

“It’s across the board,” says Randy Coleman, the director of treasury services at Utah State University. “Everybody I talk to at cash-management conferences is hurting.” Utah State is among those colleges no longer accepting Visa credit-card payments with merchant fees to blame. The average two-percent fee amounts to megamoney after nearly 73 percent of students paid their tuition with credit cards.