JAMB Cut-off Marks for 2025 Admissions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially announced the minimum cut-off marks for the 2025/2026 academic session into Nigerian tertiary institutions. This decision was made during the JAMB 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, with key stakeholders from universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other higher institutions in attendance.

Official JAMB Cut-off Marks for 2025/2026 Academic Session

At the 2025 policy meeting on admissions, stakeholders across the tertiary education sector reached a consensus on the minimum JAMB scores required for admission into various categories of institutions.

The JAMB cut-off marks are:

Universities: 150
Polytechnics: 100
Colleges of Education: 100
Colleges of Nursing Sciences: 140
Colleges of Agriculture: 100

These scores represent the national minimum admissible UTME scores for each category of institution. No tertiary institution is allowed to admit candidates who score below these thresholds. However, individual schools are permitted to set higher departmental cut-off marks or admission benchmarks, especially for competitive courses like Medicine, Law, Engineering, and Pharmacy.

How the Cut-off Points Were Decided

The decision to adopt these national minimum scores was reached through a voting process involving Vice Chancellors of universities, Rectors of polytechnics, and Provosts of colleges of education. The vote was supervised by the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, and was also attended by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.

While there were differing opinions during the session — with some institutions proposing as low as 130 and others suggesting as high as 160 for universities — the majority agreed on 150 as a balanced minimum cut-off mark for university admission in Nigeria.

JAMB reiterated that there is no uniform UTME score applicable to all institutions across the board. Each school retains the autonomy to set its own admission criteria, provided that no applicant is admitted below the national minimum score.

This means that while JAMB’s cut-off mark for universities is 150, an institution like the University of Lagos (UNILAG) or Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) can choose to set their institutional cut-off mark at 200 or higher, depending on the competitiveness of the course.

Minimum Admission Age Now Officially 16 Years

Alongside the score benchmarks, the Federal Government has also made an important policy shift:
The minimum age for admission into any Nigerian tertiary institution is now officially set at 16 years.

Dr. Tunji Alausa, while declaring the meeting open, emphasized the importance of cognitive and academic maturity, stating that this age requirement is non-negotiable.

Provisions will only be made for a few exceptional cases, such as gifted students with documented accelerated progress. Attempts to manipulate age records for admission will be considered fraudulent and dealt with accordingly.

Compliance Through CAPS Is Mandatory

JAMB also reiterated that all admissions must be processed through the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS). Any admission done outside CAPS will be deemed illegal and will not be recognized by JAMB.

Final Thoughts

The JAMB cut-off mark for 2025 serves as the national admission benchmark that guides tertiary institutions in Nigeria during the admission process. While the scores may appear modest, especially for polytechnics and colleges of education, each institution still has the liberty to raise the bar based on their internal policies and course demands.

Candidates are strongly advised to: