Background: The very fast and widespread spread of Covid 19 has an impact on various sectors, so that governments in various countries carry out strategic policies, including in the education sector, by implementing online lectures. Methods: The purpose of this study was to determine the stress level of students during online lectures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a quantitative research type with an observational analytic approach with a cross sectional study design. The population in this study were students from State Universities in South Sulawesi. The sample in this study were 133 respondents with accidental sampling method. Results: From the results of statistical tests, it was found that most of the respondents had normal stress levels (42.9%), but there were categories of severe stress (8.3%) and very severe stress (1.5%). Age variable value p value = 0.301 > 0.05, gender p value = 0.172 > 0.05, from institution p value = 0.367 > 0.05, semester level p value = 0.474 > 0.05, study program p value = 0.199 > 0.05, and achievement index p value = 0.075. Conclusions: There are obstacles faced by students such as non-existent networks, exhausted internet packages, homework that must be done too, and lecture assignments that accumulate causing them to experience stress.