Purpose: The study is done to investigate the factors that affect the intention of higher education students towards online education. The research also focuses on the importance of students' stability and students' resilience on perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that frame the attitude towards the intention to use online education. Design/methodology/approach: Online survey method is employed using Google form link with a sample of 686 students of higher education. Excluding the outliers (univariate and multivariate), the final sample size (N = 679) considers the empirical results of the study. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied to unearth the relationship in the proposed research model of the study. Findings: The empirical results indicate that perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use have a direct impact on students' intention to use online education platform. Moreover, perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use also have a positive influence on the students' attitude, which has a strong influence on students' intention to use online mode of education system. Also, students' stability and students' resilience have mixed impact on the level of perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that are the most useful determinants of attitude towards the intention to use online education. Research limitations/implications: The study counts on the technology acceptance model (TAM) where constructs like behavioural controllability, past exposure and perceived accordance are not considered for measuring the intention of students in adapting to online education. Originality/value This paper employs the extended model of technology acceptance with additional determinants, namely, students' stability and students' resilience, to investigate the intention to use the online form of education as an alternative to the offline mode.