The number of students with disabilities attending colleges has increased over the past decade, and the population of such students is expected to continue growing, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office. The report, "Higher Education and Disability," discussed methods colleges use to meet the needs of students with a range of disabilities and recommended that the Education Department develop a coordinated approach to help institutions support these students. Changes in the Higher Education Opportunity Act as well as in the Post-9/11 GI Bill are likely to cause a greater influx of students with disabilities to the system, the report said.

A compromise spending bill approved by Congressional negotiators on Tuesday sets the 2010 fiscal-year budgets for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts at $167.5-million each, a $25-million total increase over the appropriations for the two endowments in 2009. The National Endowment for the Arts appropriation is a 3.8-percent increase over the $161.3-million President Obama proposed in his budget, but the money for the National Endowment for the Humanities falls short of the $171.3-million the president proposed for the agency.

A report in the November issue of The American Prospect examines inequality in higher education in a series of articles that focus on how the recession is widening the gap between public and private institutions and which policy changes could increase access and opportunity. The report, "Inequality Goes to College," also discusses the advantages and potential of community colleges, and the job market for graduates. The authors include professors at Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley, and several community-college presidents.

A three-year degree track could save students money and time, becoming "the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car," Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican of Tennessee, writes in Newsweek. The option, which Mr. Alexander has been promoting for a while, is not for every student but could appeal to those moving on to postgraduate study or just looking for savings. Arguing that colleges must change to slow increasing tuition costs and to deal with falling state support, Mr. Alexander, a former University of Tennesee president and secretary of education, also suggests mandatory summer sessions and changing the tenure system as ways to help students graduate faster and to give universities a competitive edge.

Prosecutors in Cook County, Ill., have subpoenaed course materials from the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University, seeking to obtain a syllabus for the course as well as grading critera, students' grades, and unpublished student memoranda, according to the Chicago Tribune. Students in the course, which investigates possible wrongful convictions, said they had found new evidence in the case of a man convicted of murder in 1978 and imprisoned since then, a finding that prompted a new hearing in court for the inmate. Northwestern is fighting the subpoena. A lawyer for the university said the prosecutors' request was a fishing expedition.

President Obama encouraged students to participate in community service at a forum this afternoon at Texas A&M University at College Station. In the event, which was hosted by a former president, George H.W. Bush, Mr. Obama greeted the invited audience of about 2,500 with "Howdy, Aggies" and called young people "the most engaged, service-minded generation," according to The Battalion, A&M's student newspaper. He also paid tribute to Mr. Bush, who started a push for voluntarism with a call for a "thousand points of light." The event drew about 1,000 protesters to the campus.

An audit of the U.S. Department of Education's information systems for managing the federal student-aid programs is calling for increased security, saying several vulnerabilities could compromise the confidentiality and availability of financial and personal data in the systems. The report, by the department's Office of Inspector General, gives no indication that the flaws have led to a security breach, but it says the department needs to improve security controls over the certification and accreditation process for the systems.

The U.S. Education Department has not properly carried out procedures to prevent conflicts of interest in awarding contracts, according to a memorandum from the department's inspector general. The department concurred with the inspector's conclusions, which found that procedures to identify conflicts of interest were effective in theory but were not used properly. But the report found no evidence that the department had failed to identify an actual conflict of interest.

The editor in chief of The Northern Star, Northern Illinois University's student newspaper, is accusing the campus police chief, Donald Grady, of offering him a job if he would write a favorable article about a police officer who resigned earlier this year under a cloud, according to The Daily Chronicle, a newspaper in DeKalb, Ill. The job offer was made in the course of an interview in which the editor, Justin Weaver, said the police chief also yelled at him and threatened him. The incident took place in August but was disclosed only on Thursday, in a Northern Star editorial calling for Mr. Grady's dismissal. The university said it was investigating the allegations.

The National Center for Responsible Gaming, which is affiliated with the American Gaming Association, a trade group for the gambling industry, and which finances research on problem gambling, released a report today urging colleges to establish policies on gambling and provided recommendations for such policies. They include establishing a consistent, comprehensive policy on gambling, prohibiting and restricting gambling and alcohol at on-campus events, and accommodating students who seek help for gambling or drinking problems, including medical leaves of absence and adjustments in disciplinary action.