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Hong Kong admissions intelPublished 2026-10-18

Accepting an SNDAS or SALSA offer can cancel your JUPAS application — fees are not refunded

JUPAS states that accepting a SALSA or SNDAS offer after being notified by an institution can lead to cancellation of the application, with no refund of fees paid.

Gradepath@BeBuddiDigital editor

Official notice

The JUPAS eligibility page states that the JUPAS Office may cancel an applicant's JUPAS application if any of the following applies: the applicant is currently enrolled in a full-time undergraduate programme offered through JUPAS; the applicant has neither obtained any HKDSE results nor registered to sit the HKDSE for the relevant JUPAS admission year; after being notified by the institution concerned, the applicant accepts an offer under the Student-Athletes Learning Support and Admission Programme (SALSA) administered by the University Grants Committee; or, after being notified by the institution concerned, the applicant accepts an offer under the School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme (SNDAS) administered by the Education Bureau. The page also states that once the JUPAS Office cancels an application, the applicant will no longer be able to access the information in "Application Overview" in the JUPAS account, and that any fees paid will not be refunded or transferred to another year's application or another application. The same page sets out the rule on multiple applications: an applicant must not, in the same academic year, apply for any programme offered through JUPAS through both JUPAS and a non-JUPAS route at the same time, regardless of the academic results used in the application or whether the programme has been included in "My CONFIRMED Programme Choices"; an applicant who wishes to continue a JUPAS application must cancel the corresponding non-JUPAS application before submitting the JUPAS application. The page adds that the JUPAS Office will check with institutions periodically for multiple applications.

Gradepath analysis

This is the rule under which winning can cost you everything. SNDAS (School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme) and SALSA (Student-Athletes Learning Support and Admission Programme) both offer admission before the HKDSE results are released, so students and parents naturally treat the news as a triumph. The official wording, however, is explicit: accepting an offer under either scheme after being notified by the institution is itself one of the grounds on which the JUPAS Office may cancel an application — and the trigger is acceptance, not enrolment. The consequences are blunt: once the application is cancelled, "Application Overview" in the account becomes inaccessible, and fees paid are neither refunded nor transferable to another year or another application. Months of ranking programme choices, preparing OEA materials and the SLP, all go to zero. So the first response to such an offer should not be celebration but a decision: is this offer worth the entire JUPAS application? The second issue is timing: if you intend to continue with JUPAS, the official requirement is to cancel the non-JUPAS application before submitting the JUPAS application, not to sort it out after results. Third, the multiple-application check is carried out proactively — the page states the JUPAS Office checks with institutions periodically — so this is not a matter of hoping not to be found out. The rule covers any programme offered through JUPAS, regardless of the academic results used and regardless of whether the programme has been included in the confirmed programme choices. In practice: if you have non-JUPAS applications in hand, draw up a comparison table today, check each one for overlap with JUPAS programmes, and clear the conflicts before submitting the JUPAS application on 2 December.

Gradepath@BeBuddi action step

Weigh the JUPAS and non-JUPAS routes on the admissions page →

Official source：大學聯合招生辦法（JUPAS）官方網頁 · 資格要求 ↗

Dates, quotas and admission arrangements follow official and school announcements; the analysis here is general information and is not individual admissions or professional advice.

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