Academic procrastination is widespread among college students, leads to poorer academic performance and has been related to concurrent stress. Because the direction of effects between procrastination and stress is unclear, two longitudinal studies were conducted. Study 1 (n = 454) showed that mid-semester levels of stress were related to end of semester procrastination controlling for mid-semester procrastination but not vice versa. Study 2 (n = 326) examined procrastination and stress both before and during a quarantine occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. Although procrastination increased during the quarantine, this study replicated the Study 1 finding that earlier stress is associated with later procrastination rather than vice versa. The importance of these findings is emphasized by the need for empirically based interventions for academic procrastination in tertiary education.