It’s that time of the decade — time for the decennial census.
You should have received a postcard or form in the mail from the U.S. Census Bureau, and you’ve likely seen advertisements encouraging you to fill out the questionnaire.
The census is a snapshot of our community at a specific point in time and will affect decisions made for the next 10 years. When you respond, you tell the Census Bureau where you live (and everyone who lives in your home) as of April 1, 2020.
Campus is “home”
The Census Bureau has guidance available to help people determine where they “live.” If you interact with students, please share this guidance with them.
- Based on this guidance, most of our students would have lived in Springfield as of April 1, regardless of where their parents live or if they have temporarily left Springfield to stay with their parents (or others) during the pandemic.
- Students living in our residence halls and those living in fraternity and sorority houses will have some of their information sent directly to the Census Bureau by Residence Life and Services. They should still fill out the census questionnaire using their campus address to provide the rest of their information.
- Students living off campus should complete the census questionnaire to provide the Census Bureau with all of their information.
- The census is not tied to citizenship. All individuals, regardless of citizenship, living in the United States on April 1 should complete the census.
Why the census matters
We’ve all been focused on our work to respond to the coronavirus over the past several weeks and months. But I encourage you take a break sometime this week to complete and submit the U.S. Census questionnaire (either by paper form or online).
Getting a complete and accurate count of all residents is important for our nation, state, county, city and university.
Colleges and universities benefit from federal student loan money, federal research grants and other campus funding based on census data. The census affects the amount of funding our community receives, how our community plans for the future and the representation we receive in the government.
Data from the 2020 census will be used to:
- Ensure public services and funding for schools, roads, hospitals, and fire departments
- Provide data to plan new homes and businesses and improve neighborhoods
- Determine how many seats Missouri is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives
- Determine how many seats our community is allocated in the Missouri House and Missouri Senate
Census data is confidential. Federal law protects census responses and census answers can only be used to produce statistics.
Completing the census is our civic duty. It is an important and easy way to put Missouri State’s public affairs mission into practice.
Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!
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