This research explored the attitudes of higher education students toward ChatGPT, an AI tool commonly employed for academic assistance. Our aim was to investigate students' acceptance and use of ChatGPT during their academic pursuits. We targeted two distinctive groups for our study: undergraduate and postgraduate students. Our findings show that various elements influence students' intent to use, as well as their actual use of ChatGPT. Among these factors, performance expectancy proved to be the most influential factor for both groups. However, there was noticeable variation in other determinants, such as social influence, effort expectancy, and hedonic motivation derived from using the tool, which differed significantly between the two groups. The models we used for our research were able to explain 65.3% and 73.5% of the change in behavioral intention for undergraduates and postgraduates, respectively. They also accounted for 49.3% and 59.2% of the change in use behavior among these two groups. This study offers new insights into the dynamics influencing student interaction with AI tools such as ChatGPT in academic settings.