A technique includes detecting, by a user device, a network slice associated with an access attempt by the user device to access a wireless network, and making, by the user device, a barring decision for the access attempt based on the network slice associated with the access attempt. Another example technique may include receiving, by a base station from one or more core network entities within a wireless network, network slice-specific load information that indicates a load for each of one or more network slices, determining, by the base station based on the received network slice-specific load information, a barring configuration that indicates a set of barring parameters for one or more access categories, and sending, by the base station to a user device, the barring configuration to reduce a load on the wireless network.