Greater Nashua

WASHINGTON (AP) — The five universities that were still weighing President Donald Trump’s higher-education compact were asked to join a White House call Friday to discuss the proposed deal. By late Friday afternoon, one of the schools — the University of Virginia — had already declined to sign the agreement. The meeting with university presidents, first reported by The Associated Press, was an “important step toward defining a shared vision,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a post on X. She called for “renewed commitment to the time-honored principles that helped make American universities great" and said she looked forward to more dialogue. The White House has faced a flurry of rejections after inviting nine universities to become “initial signatories” of the so-called compact, which asked colleges to make commitments aligned with Trump’s political ...