This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the relationships between learning challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown, motivation, and perseverance in one statistical triadic model. Two hundred and thirty-eight Saudi students (undergraduates and graduates) studying different subjects from eight universities completed a structured questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used in the data analysis. The results revealed that the measurement model and the structural model fit the data well (CFI = 0.943; TLI = 0.918; RMSEA [90% confidence interval] = 0.059 [0.032-0.091]; SRMR = 0.071). Learning challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown were positively linked to students' motivation and perseverance, and the latter two were also related positively -- all the relationships were significant. The findings of this study could help policy makers activate e-learning and hybrid learning more successfully than before the pandemic and will help educators to improve their technology skills, which, in turn, will improve the learners' motivation and perseverance.