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NCAA Updates List of Previously Approved Waivers

On Friday the NCAA published an updated list of its previously approved waivers. Like incidental expense waivers, the previously approved waivers can be applied by institutions without filing a waiver request with the NCAA. Institutions must only file a quarterly report detailing which waivers they applied.

Without a previous list to compare, it is hard to say what was added. But most are along the vein of being very small technical-type waivers. Nothing like transfer waivers or progress-toward-degree waivers are on the previously approved list. The largest group are exceptions to recruiting rules to provide benefits in cases like where a former athlete with prospect-aged children is being honored, repaying a family’s expenses when the institution has to cancel a recruiting visit or providing a token of support like flowers when a prospect’s family member dies.

The list is not that extensive because a waiver has to be routinely approved but not yet integrated into the Division I Manual as an exception to the rule. Most involve cases where there the exact set of facts is important to whether the waiver would be improved; looser guidelines are a better candidate to become an exception rather than a waiver. But with pushes for more flexibility and even a separate waiver and interpretation process for the power conferences, the previously approved waiver list might end up growing significantly or being a template for a similar system.


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