Students Fill Out Census for Where They Currently Live

Resident advisors passed out this year's census earlier this week. The paperwork is due back Tuesday, April 6, and determines federal funding and representation within the Virginia General Assembly. (Kevin Loker via camera phone)

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UPDATED 12:30 p.m. 

Once every decade, the census is mailed to homes across the country. But it also makes its way to college students, many of whom can prove to be a tricky fit when it comes to where they are counted.

Many parents and students may not realize that the census polls physical residence as of April 1. As a result, college students — who are usually away from their homes at school during this point in the year — largely aren't counted at their permanent address. Even if they call Richmond or South Dakota home, students living on the George Mason University campus at the beginning of April, for instance, are counted in Fairfax, Virginia.

Specifically, those students living on campus in dorms and other university residences are counted through what are called “group quarters.” The three-phase process of "group quarters enumeration” at Mason began back in September, when census representatives began working with the university.

While most forms are due back April 1, the group quarters process has a bit of leeway. Individual census reports were distributed this week to dorms through a census representative who worked closely with the Residence Advisors. The forms are due back to RAs on Tuesday, April 6.

For those students living off-campus, the situation may not be as confusing. Census forms were mailed to houses and completed as if students lived off-campus permanently, whether they actually live at those locations year-round or not.
Special case stipulations exist for other college students, including those studying abroad and students studying here from another country.

If studying abroad while attending college at the time of the census, the student is not counted. Foreign students studying in the U.S. and living on campus, however, are counted within regular group quarters.

While the census will be complete this year, funding appropriation and demographic profiles, which determine federal funding for social and economic programs, will not be compiled until February 2011.