This study is the third and final phase of a longitudinal research project to examine the effect of a change from a quarter to a semester calendar on student perceptions of the learning environment at Iowa State University;A questionnaire developed in the initial phase of the research project was used to collect student perceptions of the learning environment five years after the change to the semester calendar. A response rate of 64% was obtained from a random sample of students enrolled in Spring, 1986 with 556 usable instruments collected. Data were subjected to factor analysis and the resultant factors were the primary basis of comparison between data collected in 1986 and data collected during the first two phases of the research project, in 1981 and 1982;Independent [superscript] t-test analysis of 1986 data compared with data from 1981 (the final year under the quarter calendar) and 1982 (the first year under the semester calendar) resulted in findings of significant differences on one of four factors and 23 of 61 individual items for each comparison. In general, student perceptions of the learning environment improved over time. One change to the contrary involved preceptions about the number of opportunities to attend cultural events and a significant declines in the mean number of cultural events attended by respondents;Exploration of the relationship between student perceptions of the learning environment in 1986 and the independent variables of academic classification, sex, grade point average, age group, place of residence, level of organizational involvement, employment status and full or part time enrollment revealed significant differences on at least one factor for each of the independent variables. Significant interactions were found for sex and place of residence on two factors, and for sex and employment status on two factors.