The 2026 Admission Deadlines Every Candidate Should Know
Every year JAMB and the institutions agree on dates by which admissions must be finished. For the 2026/2027 session, those dates are fixed, and JAMB has said the CAPS shutdown did not move them. Here they are in plain words.
The deadlines
| Type of institution | Admissions must be finished by |
|---|---|
| Public universities | October 31, 2026 |
| Private universities | November 30, 2026 |
| Other tertiary institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education | December 31, 2026 |
Where the dates come from
Stakeholders agreed them at the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Abuja, chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa. After CAPS came back online on September 28, JAMB repeated that the deadlines stand.
What happens after a deadline?
JAMB's Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, warned that once the deadline for a category passes, an institution that has not finished its admissions will no longer have access to candidates for that session.
Other decisions from the same meeting
- The minimum admissible score is 150 for universities and colleges of nursing.
- The minimum for polytechnics and monotechnics is 100.
- Admissions made outside CAPS are illegal, according to JAMB. The Registrar said disciplinary action has started against some institutions, and a case involving 11 universities is before the court.
What is not yet confirmed
No extension has been announced for 2026 in the sources we checked. In 2025, JAMB moved the public-university deadline from October 31 to November 17 after appeals from vice-chancellors, but that does not mean the same will happen this year. Plan around the dates above.
What should you do now?
- Check CAPS regularly and respond to any offer quickly.
- Make sure your O'Level results are uploaded and showing correctly. See our NECO upload guide.
- If you hold an old offer from 2021 to 2025, read the November 30 deadline.
- Follow JAMB's official channels for any change.
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