JAMB CAPS SMS lets you accept or reject an admission offer from your phone without opening the CAPS portal. From the phone number you registered with JAMB, text ACCEPT or REJECT to 55019 or 66019. JAMB approved these two short codes for admission responses in 2024, alongside fingerprint acceptance at CBT centres.
The SMS only works when a school has already offered you admission and the offer is showing on CAPS. It will not tell you whether you have been admitted, and a text sent from any other line is ignored. Below are the exact message formats (including the registration number question that guides disagree on), the airtime to keep, what to do when the message fails, and the other JAMB SMS codes that candidates mix up with this one.
This page covers only the SMS route. For checking your status, reading each CAPS message, Transfer Approval and printing your admission letter, use our full JAMB CAPS guide: check, accept and every status explained.
- Send to: 55019 or 66019
- Message: ACCEPT or REJECT, in capital letters
- Send from: the SIM you registered with JAMB
- Airtime: keep at least ₦100 on the line
- When it works: only after an offer is showing on CAPS
- If it keeps failing: use the portal, or fingerprint acceptance at an accredited CBT centre or JAMB office
Why JAMB added the CAPS SMS option
Before 2024, many candidates never touched their own CAPS page. A cyber cafe or, in some cases, staff at the admitting school clicked Accept on their behalf, and some candidates paid for it. JAMB announced in its weekly bulletin in 2024, through its spokesman Dr Fabian Benjamin, that candidates could accept or reject offers through the 55019 and 66019 channels or with their fingerprints at an accredited CBT centre or JAMB office. Vanguard and Legit.ng both reported the bulletin. JAMB’s stated aim was to protect candidates’ details and keep the decision with the candidate.
Both options tie the response to you: the SIM you registered with, or your fingerprint. The Accept and Reject buttons on the CAPS portal are still in use. JAMB posted a video in August 2026 showing candidates how to respond on the portal, so the SMS is one of three routes you can use.
Before you send the JAMB CAPS SMS: four checks
- An offer is showing on CAPS. Log in at efacility.jamb.gov.ng and open your admission status. If it still says “Admission in progress” or “Not admitted”, there is nothing for the SMS to accept yet.
- You have read the school and course. The text does not show you what you are accepting. If CAPS shows a different course under Transfer Approval, deal with that on the portal first, as explained in our JAMB CAPS guide.
- You have the registered SIM in your phone. This is the number you used when you created your profile code. JAMB treats that number as one of your identifiers, so a message from your mum’s line or a new SIM will not work.
- The SIM has airtime. JAMB has not published a fixed price for the admission SMS. Recent 2026 guides advise at least ₦100, and the UTME result SMS was reported at ₦100 this year, so I would load ₦200 to be safe.
How to accept JAMB admission via SMS: the exact message formats
This is where guides disagree. JAMB’s 2024 bulletin, as quoted by Legit.ng, told candidates to send ACCEPT or REJECT from their dedicated phone line, and gave no registration number. Several later guides, including a Legit.ng explainer from September 2026, give the format as your registration number, a space, then ACCEPT. I could not find a JAMB post on X or on jamb.gov.ng that spells out the registration number version, so treat the plain word as the official one and the longer version as a fallback that some candidates report using.
| What you want | Type this | Send to | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accept the offer on CAPS | ACCEPT | 55019 or 66019 | JAMB bulletin, 2024 |
| Reject the offer on CAPS | REJECT | 55019 or 66019 | JAMB bulletin, 2024 |
| Accept (fallback if the plain word fails) | Your reg number, a space, ACCEPT | 55019 or 66019 | Third-party guides, not confirmed by JAMB |
| Reject (fallback) | Your reg number, a space, REJECT | 55019 or 66019 | Third-party guides, not confirmed by JAMB |
Type the word in capital letters with no full stop, no extra spaces and no quotation marks. 55019 and 66019 lead to the same JAMB service, so you only need to send to one of them. If your network delays one code, try the other.
Step by step on your phone
- Open the normal SMS app (not WhatsApp) on the phone holding your registered SIM.
- Start a new message to 55019.
- Type ACCEPT, or REJECT if you are turning the offer down.
- Send it once and wait for JAMB’s reply. Sending the same message many times in a minute will not speed anything up.
- Log in to CAPS later that day and confirm the status has changed before you print your admission letter or pay your school’s acceptance fee.
What JAMB sends back
Candidates receive a confirmation text when the request goes through. JAMB has not published the exact wording of that reply, and it varies in the screenshots candidates share, so do not rely on one particular sentence. Your CAPS page is the record that counts. After a successful acceptance it should show a message congratulating you on accepting your admission, and the option to print your JAMB admission letter appears on your e-Facility dashboard. If you get a reply saying the format is wrong, check the spelling and spacing and try the other format in the table above.
When the JAMB CAPS SMS does not work
Most failures fall into a few patterns. Match yours below before you spend money at a cafe.
| What happens | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No reply at all | Not enough airtime, or network congestion on the short code | Top up, wait a few hours and send once more. Late night tends to be quieter. |
| “Operation timed out” or similar network error | Heavy traffic on 55019/66019, common in admission season | Try the other code, then the portal on a laptop. If it fails for days, go for fingerprint acceptance. |
| Reply says the request or format is wrong | Typo, lowercase letters, extra spaces or punctuation | Retype in capitals. If the plain word fails, try reg number, space, ACCEPT. |
| Reply says you have no offer, or nothing changes on CAPS | Your school has not recommended you yet, or JAMB has not approved it | Check CAPS. You can only respond once the status shows you have been admitted. |
| You no longer have the registered SIM | Lost phone, or a cafe registered you with its own number | Try retrieving the line from your network with a SIM replacement. Otherwise use the portal or a CBT centre. |
| CAPS shows a course you did not choose | Your school has proposed a transfer | Respond under Transfer Approval on the portal first. See our JAMB CAPS guide. |
In late September 2026 the whole CAPS system went offline for about four days while JAMB fixed a hosting problem. Outages like that affect the SMS as well, so if everything fails at once, check JAMB’s verified X account for news before assuming the problem is your line.
The fallback: fingerprint acceptance at a CBT centre or JAMB office
JAMB’s 2024 announcement said candidates can accept or reject any offer, including a change of programme, with their fingerprints at any accredited CBT centre or JAMB state office. This is the route for anyone who lost the registered SIM or whose SMS keeps timing out.
- Take your UTME registration slip or registration number and a valid ID.
- Call or visit first to confirm the centre is offering the service that day. Not every centre does it every day.
- Some centres charge a service fee. Ask the amount before they start.
- Ask for printed proof of what was done, and check CAPS yourself afterwards.
Your fingerprint has to be the one JAMB captured at registration, so nobody can do this step for you. Be wary of anyone who says they can.
Other JAMB SMS codes candidates confuse with CAPS SMS
55019 and 66019 handle several JAMB services, and the keyword decides which one you get. The table lists only formats confirmed by JAMB statements or by more than one reliable report.
| Purpose | Message format | Short code | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accept or reject admission | ACCEPT or REJECT | 55019 or 66019 | Works only after an offer is on CAPS |
| Create a JAMB profile code (before UTME registration) | NIN, a space, your 11-digit NIN (e.g. NIN 12345678901) | 55019 or 66019 | From JAMB’s 2026 UTME registration guidance. The phone number becomes your registered line. |
| Check UTME result | UTMERESULT | 55019 or 66019 | One word, capitals. Reported at ₦100 per SMS in 2026. More in our JAMB result guide. |
Formats for retrieving a lost profile code or registration number by SMS circulate online (for example, RESEND or UTMEPIN followed by a number), but I could not confirm them against a JAMB statement for 2026. If you have lost your registration number, the safer route is to log in to e-Facility and reprint your registration slip, or visit a JAMB office.
Sending UTMERESULT will not accept your admission, and sending ACCEPT will not show your score. If you need a different course or school before an offer comes, that is done on the portal through a JAMB change of course, never by text.
Deadlines that apply to accepting by SMS
| Who | Deadline | What happens if you miss it |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 offers | Four weeks from the offer, under JAMB’s 2026 admission policy | The offer can be withdrawn and given to another candidate |
| Unanswered offers from 2021 to 2025 | 30 November 2026 (JAMB calls this the final extension) | The offer reverts to “Not Admitted”; a later update attracts a penalty fee |
The 30 November date was announced by JAMB on its X account on 30 September 2026, after the original 31 August and 30 September dates passed and CAPS went down for several days. If you got an offer years ago and never responded, check CAPS now. JAMB has said that rejecting an old offer does not affect a 2026 admission, and that a candidate who has moved schools or programmes can accept the old offer and then apply for a correction or deletion.
I would not leave this to the last week. The short codes slow down whenever thousands of candidates text at once, and the fingerprint queues at CBT centres get long close to a deadline.
Fake JAMB shortcodes and admission scams
In April 2025 JAMB warned candidates about texts from a fake sender ID made by joining 8863 (the keypad spelling of UTME) with 55019, so it looked like JAMB’s own code. The messages claimed the candidate’s details had been tampered with and told them to contact someone who would fix it. JAMB said it did not send them and had reported the senders to security agencies.
- You text JAMB to accept. JAMB does not text you asking for money, a call back or your password.
- Nobody can “secure” or “upgrade” a CAPS admission for a fee. Only your school and JAMB move a CAPS record.
- Do not give anyone your e-Facility password or your registered SIM so they can accept for you.
- When in doubt, check the claim yourself on efacility.jamb.gov.ng or JAMB’s official site at jamb.gov.ng.
After the SMS: two steps it does not cover
Accepting on CAPS by text does not pay your school’s acceptance fee, and paying that fee does not accept the offer on CAPS. You need both. Once CAPS shows the acceptance, print your JAMB admission letter from e-Facility (₦1,000 on the portal) and follow your school’s clearance list. The full sequence is in our JAMB CAPS guide.
JAMB CAPS SMS: frequently asked questions
Can I accept JAMB admission via SMS with another phone number? No. JAMB only processes the admission SMS from the number registered on your profile. If you no longer have that SIM, use the CAPS portal or fingerprint acceptance at an accredited CBT centre or JAMB office.
How much does it cost to accept admission on JAMB by SMS? JAMB has not published a separate price for it. Keep at least ₦100 airtime on the registered line, which matches what JAMB’s result SMS cost in 2026.
Can I check my admission status by sending SMS to 55019? No working status check by SMS has been confirmed. Check your status on CAPS through efacility.jamb.gov.ng, and use the SMS only to respond once an offer is showing.
Can I reverse it if I sent REJECT by mistake? Treat a rejection as final. Contact your school’s admissions office and a JAMB office at once, but do not expect the same offer to come back.
Sources and updates
The 55019 and 66019 admission channels and fingerprint acceptance come from JAMB’s weekly bulletins of 2024, as reported by Vanguard (2 April 2024) and Legit.ng (6 May 2024). The registration number format and the ₦100 airtime advice come from a Legit.ng explainer of 11 September 2026; JAMB itself has not confirmed that format. The 30 November 2026 deadline for 2021 to 2025 offers comes from JAMB’s statement on X of 30 September 2026, reported by Nairametrics and Voice of Nigeria, and the four-week window from JAMB’s 2026 policy meeting. The fake shortcode warning is JAMB’s statement of 16 April 2025, reported by ThisDay. The profile code format comes from JAMB’s 2026 UTME registration guidance as reported by BusinessDay, and the UTMERESULT format from JAMB’s result announcements reported by ThisDay and TechCabal. If JAMB publishes a different SMS format or changes a deadline, this page will be updated.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
