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.