CUET Eligibility Criteria: Age Limit, Qualification, Course Wise Admission Criteria

CUET eligibility criteria 2026 prescribes the academic qualification requirement, age limit and university and course-wise requirements. Check for detailed CUET UG eligibility criteria here. NTA will commence the CUET registration 2026 in first week of March. 

CUET 2026 eligibility criteria determine whether a candidate can apply for UG courses offered in all the CUET participating institutions. Candidates who wish to apply for CUET must meet the eligibility criteria prescribed by NTA. CUET UG eligibility criteria prescribe the age limit, academic qualifications, and nationality. National Testing Agency (NTA) will release the CUET application form 2026 at cuet.nta.nic.in. NTA will administer the CUET UG 2026 exam tentatively in May/June 2026 in CBT mode.

CUET 2026: Eligibility for Undergraduate Program

Along with the admission notification, NTA has released the eligibility criteria for CUET 2026. So, let us look at the eligibility requirements of CUET 2026.

• Candidates should score a minimum of 50% marks in their +2 examination in the General category and 45% for SC/ST candidates.
• Candidates can choose any subjects in CUET irrespective of the subjects they studied in class XII.
• The candidate should be of Indian nationality.
• Candidates should apply to as many Participating Universities with as many options of the programmes as possible selected under CUET.
• Applicants can apply for CUET while attempting the qualifying examination of the university. However they would have to produce the passing certificate at the time of counselling.

CUET 2026: Age Limit

There is no age limit to appear for CUET 2026. However the candidates must fulfil the educational qualifications to be eligible for the CUET 2026 exam.

CUET 2026 Nationality

There are a few requirements that the candidates must meet to be eligible for the CUET 2026 exam:

• The candidate must be an Indian citizen.
• A constituent subject of Nepal and Bhutan
• A Tibetan refugee who landed in India before 1 January 1962 to make India their permanent home and reside there permanently.
• Pakistanis, Burmese, Sri Lankans, Kenyans, Ugandans, Tanzanians, Zambians, Malawians, Zaireans, Ethiopians and people from Vietnam who permanently moved to India.

CUET 2026: Number of Attempts

As long as the candidate fulfils the educational requirements and other guidelines of the exam they can appear for the exam. There is no fixed number of attempts for the CUET exam. Thus candidates must adhere to the eligibility requirements to be able to attempt CUET.

CUET Eligibility Criteria: Key Points

1. Each of the CUET participating universities decides its parameters for CUET eligibility.
2. The sole criterion for admissions is expected to be based on CUET scores and Class XII board exam scores.
3. The age limit hasn’t been mentioned in the eligibility criteria. However once the NTA has released the eligibility requirements it might provide maximum and minimum age limits for the programmes.

CUET Eligibility Criteria: Reservation

Each Central University must adhere to the rules specified by the Government of India since CUET is a test for admissions to Undergraduate programmes at Central Universities established by an Act of Parliament. The SC/ST, OBC and PwD groups are given certain leeway in the CUET Eligibility section.

All applicants must verify their credentials by referring to the CUET Eligibility Criteria and the CUET college and university to which they are applying. Before applying for the test or applying for admission the applicant should be informed of any documents that may be necessary.