This study evaluated two competing explanations of the learning-satisfaction relationship in the college experience. The first model represents a true relationship between reported learning and satisfaction, while the second model treats this relationship as an artifact of a halo effect. The study took place at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) and involved data collected in 1988 using a campus-wide assessment program where all seniors were administered a survey designed to elicit information about perceptions of their college experiences, satisfaction with college, and learning and development during college. In 1990, the same subjects were mailed an alumni survey containing many of the items from the senior survey, with 989 responses. The data were evaluated according to goodness-of-fit of the models, invariance of the measurement models across senior and alumni data, and multitrait-multimethod tests of the relationships between latent variables representing the same constructs for the senior and alumni data. Analyses revealed that treating the learning-satisfaction relationship as an artifact of a halo effect provided the best representation of the data. Although not conclusive, results suggested that educational researchers and assessment practitioners should be careful in interpreting self-reports of learning and development, particularly as they relate to satisfaction with college. Included are 47 references. (JB)