I have no insider knowledge but I suspect that the university's existing contact with Microsoft already included Microsoft To Do. This department might have sta

I have no insider knowledge but I suspect that the university's existing contact with Microsoft already included Microsoft To Do. This department might have started using it because it was "free" (to them) and decided it was good enough at that price point. This is just one department within the university. It's not uncommon to see small groups paying for some software only to eventually replace it with a site licensed enterprise alternative. See also: MS Teams replacing Slack at big organizations