This study was prompted by the limited body of research describing the relationship between the allocation of financial resources and student outcomes in higher education, and by the instance of contradictory and inconclusive results found in that research. With consideration that yet unidentified dynamics might account for the diversity of results, this study explored the influence of dimensions of organizational behavior on the allocation of financial resources at three colleges with differing rates of persistence and graduation rates, but that were otherwise similar in terms of other defining institutional characteristics. Q Methodology ascertained perceptions of senior leadership at the three colleges about the behavioral nature of financial decision making at those institutions. Factor analysis of those perceptions revealed distinctly different profiles for two of the institutions in terms of dimensions of organizational behavior. Factor analysis found a lesser degree of commonality in perceptions about financial resource allocation at the third institution. The results implied that dimensions of organizational behavior differentially influence the allocation of financial resources. Implications for the relationship of financial resource allocation and persistence and graduation rates are discussed, and areas for future research recommended.