It is well established in the research literature that student financial aid has a positive influence on year-to-year persistence. However, there has been no prior research on price responsiveness in persistence decisions. This article examines the influence of the amounts of student financial aid received and tuition charged on year-to-year persistence by college students in the high school class of 1980. The principal finding is that the persistence decisions of college students in the early 1980s were more responsive to increases in student aid than to tuition increases. This finding suggests that persistence rates can be improved if institutions increase need-based aid for currently enrolled students when tuition is increased each year, or if government student aid increases over the levels provided in the 1980s.