JAMB Cut-Off Mark (2026) — Statutory Minimum and the Institution-Tier Landscape

For the 2026 cycle, JAMB set the minimum cut-off marks at the Policy Meeting on Monday 11 May 2026: 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics, 150 for colleges of nursing, and 100 for colleges of education. These are statutory floors. Each tertiary institution sets its own institution-specific cut-off at or above the JAMB minimum, course by course, and that institution-specific figure is what the candidate's score must clear for the chosen course.

The cut-off mark surface has two layers. The first layer is JAMB's statutory minimum — a floor set each cycle at the annual Policy Meeting, below which no tertiary institution may admit a candidate. The second layer is the institution-specific cut-off — set by each tertiary institution at or above the JAMB floor, typically course by course, based on the institution's own course demand, capacity and prior-cycle scoring data.

The two layers operate across three institution tiers. Universities (federal, state, private) read the highest JAMB minimum. Polytechnics and monotechnics read a lower JAMB minimum but set institution-specific cut-offs that vary sharply by course. Colleges (colleges of nursing, colleges of education) read a separate minimum and apply institution-specific cut-offs against their own course catalogues.

This article walks the 2026 statutory minimums set at the JAMB Policy Meeting of 11 May 2026, names the institution-specific layer and the tier-by-tier landscape, and gives the candidate a conservative discipline for confirming the actual cut-off for the chosen institution-course pair in the candidate's cycle.

The framework anchoring this work is the JAMB Act, the JAMB Regulations and the annual UTME Brochure:

This article is a cycle-evergreen reference. The candidate consults the cut-off landscape at three different points in the cycle: pre-registration (planning which institution-course pair to enter at registration), pre-result (predicting which institutions the candidate's expected score will reach), and pre-CAPS decision (deciding whether to accept the offer or to attempt change-of-course or change-of-institution).

As at publication of this article on 28 May 2026, the 2026 JAMB minimum cut-offs are set and confirmed: universities 150, polytechnics 100, colleges of nursing 150, colleges of education 100. The figures apply to the 2026 cycle's CAPS admissions, with the institution-side admission completion deadlines at 31 October 2026 for public universities, 30 November 2026 for private universities and polytechnics, and 31 December 2026 for monotechnics and colleges of education. Institution-specific cut-offs published by individual tertiary institutions through May, June and July 2026 are operationally live across the cycle's CAPS admission window.

Candidates planning for next cycle (2027) should expect the JAMB Policy Meeting in May 2027 to either confirm or adjust the minimums based on the 2027 candidate score profile; the conservative discipline is to read the current-cycle figure each cycle.

Four overlapping readers. The UTME candidate planning the four institution-course choices at registration and trying to calibrate score expectations against institution cut-offs. The UTME candidate post-result who has the actual score in hand and is deciding whether to accept the chosen institution's offer or to attempt change-of-course. The Direct Entry candidate consulting the DE-side institution requirements alongside the UTME-side framework. The parent or guardian of an under-18 candidate, reading the landscape on the candidate's behalf and helping the candidate set realistic targets.

The three-actor architecture matters at the cut-off mark surface specifically because the institution-side is the operative actor for the binding figure. JAMB sets the floor and runs CAPS; the institution sets the institution-specific cut-off and runs admission allocation against the cut-off; the candidate's score determines which institution-course pairs are reachable.

The landscape is structurally varied across the cycle and across tiers. The full framework as it applies to the 2026 cycle:

JAMB held the annual Policy Meeting at Bwari Abuja on Monday 11 May 2026, attended by Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities, Rectors of polytechnics and Provosts of colleges of education. The Board set the cycle's minimum cut-off marks at the meeting:

The statutory minimums alone do not determine the candidate's admission. A score above the JAMB minimum is the necessary condition; meeting the institution-specific cut-off for the chosen course is the sufficient condition.

Institution-specific cut-offs vary sharply across the three tiers and within each tier. The figures below are orientation examples drawn from 2025/2026 cycle reporting; cycle-by-cycle changes are expected and the candidate must confirm the current-cycle figure at the institution's own admission-news page before relying on the number.

The table is for orientation only. Two operational disciplines apply to every row:

• Institution-specific cut-offs change cycle by cycle. The candidate must confirm the figure for the chosen institution-course pair in the current cycle from the institution's own admission-news page or the current-year JAMB Brochure.
• Third-party catalogues (SmartJamb, CutOffMark.NG, Myschool, JAMB News Today and similar sites) are useful for cross-reference but are not binding. Where two third-party sources disagree on a figure for the same institution-course pair, the institution's own published figure is the operative one.

The cut-off mark surface is a classic primary-source-conflict surface. Three layers of variance compound:

• Statutory variance versus operational variance. The JAMB statutory minimum is set once per cycle and is consistent across every institution in the tier. The institution-specific cut-off is operational variance — each institution publishes its own figures, on its own timeline, and updates them when course-demand or capacity shifts.
• Tier variance. Universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education operate against different JAMB minimums and different institution-specific cut-off bands. A score that comfortably reaches a polytechnic course may sit well below the federal-university course minimum.
• Within-tier institution-by-institution variance. Even within a tier (say, federal universities), institution-specific cut-offs vary significantly. UI may publish a Medicine cut-off at one band; UNILAG at a different band; ABU at a third. The course's name is the same; the operative figure is institution-specific.

The conservative discipline JAMB itself implies (and the discipline this site applies across the cluster) is the defensive triplet:

1. Confirm at the institution's own admission website. Each tertiary institution publishes its course-by-course cut-off in its admission-news page each cycle. This is the binding figure for that institution-course pair in that cycle.
2. Confirm in the current-year JAMB Brochure. The Brochure of Approved Courses and Institutions, downloadable from https://www.jamb.gov.ng/, names the JAMB-side minimum entry requirements per course per institution. This is the JAMB-side baseline.
3. Confirm at the point of CAPS decision. The actual offer the candidate receives on CAPS confirms the institution's allocation band on the day. The published cut-off is the floor for consideration; the offer is the operative figure.

A candidate or parent relying on a single source — even a reputable one — without the defensive triplet is operationally exposed. Cut-offs shift cycle by cycle; what was true in 2024 is not necessarily true in 2026; what one news site reports may not match what the institution itself publishes.

The 2026 JAMB Policy Meeting on 11 May 2026 set the cycle's cut-off minimums and a small set of policy changes that bear on the cut-off landscape:

• Education and Agriculture (non-engineering) courses no longer require UTME. Candidates seeking admission into Education programmes and Agriculture non-engineering courses are no longer required to sit the UTME, per the Policy Meeting resolutions reported by SmartJamb and Legit.ng. The route into these programmes is direct on documentary qualification at the institution's admission step. UTME-side cut-offs do not apply.
• Institution-side admission completion deadlines. Public universities by 31 October 2026; private universities and polytechnics by 30 November 2026; monotechnics and colleges of education by 31 December 2026. The deadlines bind the institution-side admission window — past the deadline, the institution cannot upload fresh offers for the cycle.
• Candidate-side four-week acceptance grace period. The candidate has four weeks from the offer date to accept or reject on CAPS. Failure to act risks the candidate being placed in the refusal-to-accept category with ineligibility to be re-admitted in the cycle as the sanction. The admission status check walkthrough walks the CAPS state taxonomy and the four-week window in detail.
• Underage candidate score threshold. JAMB's 2026 policy as reported by Vanguard withholds the result for candidates below 16 unless the score is 320 or above. Underage candidates clearing the 320 threshold then sit inside the standard cut-off framework; below 320 the result is withheld pending JAMB review.

The policy changes interact with the cut-off landscape: a candidate aiming for Education or Agriculture programmes no longer needs to clear the UTME cut-off at all; a candidate aiming for a federal university Medicine programme reads the institution-specific cut-off (often 240+) against the JAMB minimum (150) and plans accordingly.

The 2026 UTME score distribution as reported through April 2026 (Legit.ng, Myschool, JAMB News Today, suresuccess.ng): approximately 1,192,057 candidates scored 160 and above; 934,103 scored 170 and above; 704,991 scored 180 and above; 77,070 scored 250 and above; 8,401 scored 300 and above out of the 1.89+ million results released. The highest single score was 372 (Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin, per The Nation).

Reading the score distribution against the cut-off landscape:

• A score in the 100-149 band. Below the university JAMB minimum but above the polytechnic and colleges-of-education JAMB minimum. The reachable space is polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education at courses where institution-specific cut-offs sit at or near the JAMB minimum.
• A score in the 150-179 band. Above the university JAMB minimum. Most state universities, private universities, and some federal universities at less-competitive courses become reachable. Polytechnic and college spaces remain fully open.
• A score in the 180-219 band. Most universities at most courses reachable. Federal universities at competitive courses (Medicine, Law, Pharmacy, Engineering) often require higher; check the institution-specific figure.
• A score in the 220-249 band. Reachable for most courses at most federal universities. Top federal university competitive courses (UI Medicine, OAU Law, UNILAG Pharmacy) may require higher.
• A score of 250 or above. Reachable for nearly every course at nearly every institution. Top-tier competitive courses at the most competitive federal universities remain a function of the institution-specific allocation sequence even at 250+, but the cut-off floor is comfortably cleared.

The score-to-reach mapping above is orientation only; the institution-specific cut-off for the chosen course is the binding figure. Use the admission status check to monitor the CAPS state once the institution begins allocation; use the change of course and change of institution routes where the score does not reach the original chosen course.

The cut-off mark sits at the calibration centre of the JAMB cluster. The references that bear on the cut-off landscape:

• JAMB registration walkthrough — the upstream hub where the candidate enters the four institution-course choices that the cut-off landscape will bear on.
• JAMB subject combination — the UTME Brochure-anchored matrix matching the candidate's four UTME subjects to admissible courses; a separate constraint that operates alongside the cut-off.
• JAMB result check walkthrough — the upstream article releasing the score against which this cut-off landscape is read.
• JAMB admission status check — the CAPS state taxonomy that interprets whether the candidate's score has reached the institution's allocation band for the chosen course.
• JAMB CAPS login walkthrough — the post-result admission portal where the offer (against the cut-off) surfaces.
• JAMB change of course and JAMB change of institution — the modification routes when the score does not clear the chosen course's institution-specific cut-off.
• Direct entry registration — the DE-side framework that operates against a different admission framework.
• Admission letter reference — the post-acceptance document the institution issues after the candidate has cleared the cut-off and accepted the offer.

The 2026 minimum cut-offs quoted in this article reflect the JAMB Policy Meeting resolutions of 11 May 2026 as reported by Legit.ng, Punch Newspapers, Naija News, SmartJamb, Myschool and JAMB News Today. Institution-specific cut-offs vary cycle by cycle and institution by institution; confirm at the institution's own admission-news page before relying on a figure for a binding decision.