This article describes how for many college students the transition to college-level mathematics courses presents new challenges beyond those that were part of the high school experience. In this interdisciplinary study forty-four non-mathematics and non-science majors, enrolled in a retail-buying course, were studied to examine student confidence in performing applied mathematical tasks, mathematics achievement in college, and the relationship between predictors of college success (mathematics studied in high school, SAT/ACT scores, and mathematics courses taken in college). Measurements used for the study included a subset of items from the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES) on a 5-point Likert-type scale, course grades, number of years studying mathematics in high school and number of mathematics courses in college. Findings indicate that mathematics courses taken in college increased confidence in working mathematical tasks and were significant predictors of achievement in the retail course. In addition, SAT/ACT scores also were critical to the overall mathematics achievement.