Though there has been limited empirical research on the cost component from the expectancy-value model, a recent interest in the construct has spurred advances in theory and measurement. We present a longitudinal analysis of four types of cost: effort, loss of valued alternatives, emotional, and outside cost. We focus on how cost changes over time in a critical short-term setting: gatekeeper courses. These courses are introductory university courses with high drop, withdrawal, and fail rates. We present data from calculus and statistics. In both samples we found that cost was strongly, negatively related to expectancy, and moderately, negatively related to value. Cost was also a significant predictor of course performance, with emotional cost having the largest effect.