<p>Online teacher care has been widely associated with student engagement, yet students’ online learning experiences may vary with both emotional–engagement patterns and perceived relational support in digitally mediated learning environments. Grounded in learning environments research, this study adopted a person-centered approach to examine heterogeneity in university students’ emotional–engagement configurations and their associations with perceived online teacher care. Survey data from 1954 students were analyzed using latent profile analysis based on positive academic emotions, negative academic emotions, and online learning engagement. Four distinct emotional–engagement profiles were identified, reflecting differentiated patterns of learner–environment alignment. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that perceived online teacher care was significantly associated with profile membership. Higher perceived care was linked to a reduced likelihood of belonging to the Emotionally Distressed–Disengaged profile relative to the Emotionally Adaptive–Highly Engaged profile. These findings extend variable-centered research by showing that relational characteristics of online learning environments are associated with different emotional–engagement configurations. Conceptualizing teacher care as a perceived relational affordance embedded in digitally mediated environments, the study highlights the importance of designing scalable care–signaling practices (e.g., feedback timeliness and communication visibility) to support diverse learner profiles in online higher education contexts.</p>