3/15/20: Census Bureau announces updates to special operations, assistance program and early nonresponse followup:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/modifying-2020-operations-for-counting-college-students.html
In Student Housing, Off Campus or With Parents, College Students Count in 2020 Census
A freshman living on campus in student housing. A junior varsity athlete sharing an off-campus house with teammates. A senior living solo in an off-campus apartment.
Even though many residents of a typical American college town might move away after they graduate, they have to be counted while they live there.
College towns across the country depend on students’ responses to the census. The reason: Census results help determine how much federal funding communities will receive over the next 10 years.
“Young college students may be going off on their own for the first time, and when they see a postcard or a census worker and are asked to take the census, they may not understand that they’re supposed to take it where they’re living.”
— Evan Curtis, state planning coordinator and co-chair of the Utah Complete Count Committee
Where Is ‘Home’ for College Students?
When responding to the 2020 Census, college students should be counted where they live and sleep most of the time as of April 1, 2020.
For most students, that means in their college town, not back home with their parents.
Parents or guardians should only include children in college who live with them full time during the school year.
They should not list college students studying or living abroad on April 1.
It will be easier than ever for college students and other internet users to respond to the 2020 Census. For the first time, most people can respond online. They can also respond by phone or by mail, if they prefer.
Up to five invitations to respond to the 2020 Census will be mailed to all addresses beginning in mid-March. Residents of apartments or houses will receive information multiple times about the different ways to respond to the census.