One of the candidates for the University of Iowa presidency told the State Board of Regents today that public perception of education’s cost is exaggerated.
Charles Bantz, the Chancellor of the Indiana and Purdue Universities’ joint campus in Indianapolis, says media coverage distorts higher education’s price. "One of our challenges has been public media coverage has anchored people’s idea of tuition as unrelated to that that truly affects their opportunities and that’s a huge problem for us in institutions," Bantz says. "We have not been good in explaining the difference between cost and price."
The Regents spent a little over an hour interviewing Bantz. The board is seeking a replacement for former University of Iowa president David Skorton, who left Iowa City about a year ago. "If you were looking for a president who came in and had one tool box — only one set of ways to do something — I’m not the right persion," Bantz told the board. "I am a person who believes that you’ve gotta understand the place where you work."
The Board of Regents has also interviewed a vice president from Rutgers University. Two other finalists for the U-of-I job are to be interviewed as well.