I left that world a long time ago, but what held is there was no problem buying site licenses for big software, not as much "I'm a research assistant and I'd like to buy X for $Y,000 for my project" The difference being buying something with broad appeal used by lots of people within the university, and buying something that I'd like to try for my project. Especially when there's already an established method which doesn't involve spending your PI's grant money.