WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is encouraging leaders at nine universities to sign a compact committing their schools to adopt President Donald Trump’s policy agenda for higher education in exchange for preferential access to federal funds. Critics, including the nation’s leading lobbying group for college presidents, slammed the compact as government overreach into academia. It later evolved into the White House’s college compact, according to sources familiar with the effort. The Trump administration has launched probes into multiple prestigious colleges over pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza. The government has reached settlements to resolve probes with Columbia and Brown universities, which both accepted demands from the Trump administration.