Values of and returns from US university endowments have fallen, says a survey, but faculty recruitment is unlikely to be affected. The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in Washington DC and the Commonfund, an investment-management firm in Wilton, Connecticut, studied 831 institutions and found that endowments fell by an average of 0.3% between 2011 and 2012. Ken Redd, NACUBO director of research and policy analysis, says that faculty hiring is usually supported by other accounts and probably will not tighten as a result of the drop.