Adjunct instructors at public universities reported repeated paycheck delays this semester, underscoring payroll weaknesses that affect untenured faculty and graduate employees. The Chronicle’s reporting highlights cases at CUNY and UC Davis where new hires and graduate workers faced late or monthly pay cycles that left some without income for weeks. Unions and campus HR offices have fielded recurring complaints and, in some instances, offered short-term loans or reminders to senior leadership to fix payroll timing. Campus payroll failures create immediate financial stress for early-career academics who frequently relocate and lack emergency savings; they also carry reputational risk for institutions that rely on contingent instructors to deliver courses. Local union leaders told The Chronicle they routinely escalate the issue to chancellors each term. Administrators said some changes have been made but that structural payroll cycles and decentralised hiring continue to produce gaps.