[FireBeyond]

Without outing her university, I will add the (possible) caveat of "private Catholic university".

> During covid, it was common for faculty to take large pay cuts, but not staff.

The only real benefit to staff during COVID's early days was in the (where else) athletics department (and this is very much not a sports school), where all the coaching and related staff were kept on at full pay, and only "required" on their own recognizance to "spend time keeping up with relevant information in your field".

> That's why there's no such thing as "just pay the bill, thanks". They don't pay without knowing what it's for.

The various schools thought process is "We (the school) knows the bill details, supervisor signed off, so, Finance just needs the sum total and to send payment".