Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has extended the deadline for candidates with pending admission offers from the 2021 to 2025 admission cycles to November 30, 2026.
The extension gives affected candidates a final opportunity to either accept or reject their outstanding admission offers following the temporary unavailability of the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) for approximately 96 hours.
The Board had earlier fixed September 30, 2026, as the deadline for candidates offered admission between 2021 and 2025 to regularise their admission status.
However, following the disruption to the CAPS platform, JAMB said its management had approved November 30 as the final deadline for candidates in the affected category.
The Acting Director, Public Affairs and Protocol, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said the extension was necessary to give candidates sufficient opportunity to update their admission records.
He said, “Management has approved 30th November 2026 as the final deadline for candidates in this category to indicate whether they wish to accept or reject their outstanding admission offers.”
Benjamin warned that candidates who failed to act before the deadline would no longer be allowed to accept or reject the outstanding offers within the current window.
He added that any subsequent request to update admission records relating to previous admission years would attract the applicable penalty fee.
According to him, the admission offers had remained outstanding for several years, giving candidates ample opportunity to take the necessary action.
JAMB said the intervention was particularly important for candidates whose admissions were not reflected on the matriculation list.
The board explained that candidates whose admissions were not properly documented could face difficulties accessing benefits associated with recognised admissions, including participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
It therefore urged all affected candidates to take immediate action rather than wait until the deadline.
Candidates who accept their outstanding admission offers will be able to proceed to print their admission letters, while those who reject the offers will have their dashboards reverted to “Not admitted.”
JAMB said this would enable it to update its records and ensure that the national admission database accurately reflected the candidates’ current status.
The Board also clarified that candidates who were no longer studying at the institution where they had previously been offered admission, or who were pursuing a different programme, could accept the outstanding admission and subsequently apply for the appropriate correction or deletion of the previous admission where applicable.
“This will enable the Board to appropriately update the candidate’s admission status and records,” JAMB said.
Similarly, candidates currently pursuing a second degree but who still have an unaccepted admission offer from an earlier admission exercise may reject the outstanding offer and continue with their current programme.
The Board also reassured candidates who have secured admission in the 2026 admission exercise but still have an outstanding offer from an earlier year that rejecting the previous offer would not affect their 2026 admission.
JAMB said the extension was not only intended to compensate for the period during which CAPS was unavailable, but also to provide affected candidates with a final opportunity to clearly indicate whether they wished to accept or reject their outstanding offers.
