New battery but battery light still on

Sounds very likely. Some parts places will check it at no charge. There are core exchanges. Make sure you get one with a lifetime warranty. Charge your battery up prior to running your car with a new alt. Low or bad batteries will work alternators hard.

Good advice! I'll second that on a bad alt. killing a battery or vice versa. Also, when I changed out the alt. on my 97 sl1, it was a very tedious job since the power steering pump had to be removed and was very difficult to reach the back connections on the alt. with one hand, since I had no lift available and had to use jacks etc. But, it was cheaper for me to do it myself vs. the $400 Saturn dealer quoted. MR

In reality, a bad alt will only kill a weak battery and vice versa. If the battery/alt is in good shape, it won't die from working hard - that is, after all, what they're supposed to do :)