The NCAA Division I Board of Governors approved a blanket waiver Monday that grants an additional year of eligibility to former junior college transfers in positions similar to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, opening the door to a wave of college athletes across all sports. to spend another year in college athletics.

According to an NCAA memo, the waiver extends eligibility for an additional year in the 2025-26 season to athletes who have previously “participated for one or more years at a non-NCAA school” and otherwise extends their NCAA postseason eligibility 2024–25 would have been exhausted.

The NCAA’s decision comes five days after a federal judge in Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction allowing Pavia, a former junior college transfer who played his first season at Vanderbilt in 2024, to play another year of college next fall. to seek authorization.

In its memo announcing the waiver, the NCAA also announced that it had appealed the ruling in the Pavia case.

Pavia sued the NCAA in November over its eligibility standards, arguing that the organization’s rule of counting a player’s junior college years toward his total NCAA eligibility violates antitrust laws because it limits an athlete’s ability to have his name, to benefit from his image and likeness.

Last week’s injunction applied exclusively to Pavia and would have prevented the NCAA from banning the Vanderbilt quarterback from returning next fall. However, Monday’s decision by the NCAA will now allow other athletes in similar situations – former junior college players who would have been ineligible to play after this season – to return for another year in 2025-26.

The waiver does not apply to all junior college athletes, but only to those who would have completed their NCAA eligibility this year.

Pavia’s lawsuit and subsequent injunction may have paved the way for hundreds of former junior college athletes to receive an additional year of eligibility in 2025-26.

Pavia completed 59.2% of his passes for 2,133 yards and 17 touchdowns with four interceptions, leading Vanderbilt to a 6-6 finish in 2024. After two seasons at New Mexico State, he joined the Commodores after beginning his college career at New Mexico Military Institute. a two-year junior college.

Under NCAA rules, athletes typically have five years to play four seasons. Among the arguments in Pavia’s lawsuit is that the NCAA improperly counted his time at junior college – which was played outside the organization’s jurisdiction – against his NCAA eligibility, and in turn limited his ability to make money using his name, image and likeness to earn, limited.

Under the new waiver, Pavia will be granted a sixth year of NCAA eligibility next fall.

Florida State wide receiver Malik Benson thought he had used his final year of eligibility after playing for the Seminoles in 2024, Alabama in 2023 and the previous two seasons at Hutchinson Community College. He told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Monday that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal following the ruling and feels blessed to have the opportunity to play another year.

Benson and his agent had contacted attorney Darren Heitner, who works in college sports, to request an additional year. They had prepared a 28-page complaint but never had to file it.

“I’m just glad the Lord blessed me with another chance and another year,” Benson told Thamel. “I won’t take this for granted.”

Benson is expected to be one of many who will either return to school or enter the portal to benefit from the decision.

News of the NCAA waiver and Pavia’s lawsuit comes days before Vanderbilt plays in its first bowl game since 2018. Pavia and the Commodores face Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27 (3:30 p.m., ESPN).