diff --git a/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation.go b/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation.go
index fd8a67b2313..0a62b759410 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation.go
@@ -2027,12 +2027,15 @@ type PersistentVolumeClaimSpecValidationOptions struct {
 	AllowReadWriteOncePod bool
 	// Allow users to recover from previously failing expansion operation
 	EnableRecoverFromExpansionFailure bool
+	// Allow assigning StorageClass to unbound PVCs retroactively
+	EnableRetroactiveDefaultStorageClass bool
 }
 
 func ValidationOptionsForPersistentVolumeClaim(pvc, oldPvc *core.PersistentVolumeClaim) PersistentVolumeClaimSpecValidationOptions {
 	opts := PersistentVolumeClaimSpecValidationOptions{
-		AllowReadWriteOncePod:             utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ReadWriteOncePod),
-		EnableRecoverFromExpansionFailure: utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RecoverVolumeExpansionFailure),
+		AllowReadWriteOncePod:                utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ReadWriteOncePod),
+		EnableRecoverFromExpansionFailure:    utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RecoverVolumeExpansionFailure),
+		EnableRetroactiveDefaultStorageClass: utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RetroactiveDefaultStorageClass),
 	}
 	if oldPvc == nil {
 		// If there's no old PVC, use the options based solely on feature enablement