From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpay your waypay your wayPAY FORto pay for everything that you want without having to depend on anyone else for money Sofia worked to pay her way through college. → pay
Examples from the Corpus
pay your way• But, in spite of the considerable effort and investment, it has for many years failed to pay its way.• His father is paying his way.• If education postpones such dependency it will have paid its way.• It was an important principle that these housing schemes should pay their way.• It wasn't often that men shrugged off her attempts to pay her way.• Finally, I offered to become an air hostess to pay my way, and this time, received an immediate reply.• They either pay their way, or they go.• Pfeiffer worked as a shipping clerk to pay his way through college.• Octavia Hill believed, with most other Victorians, that housing should pay its way to her, housing subsidies were unthinkable. 