When the director of the U.S. Census Bureau took a trip to Tooksook Bay, a remote fishing village in southwestern Alaska, at the beginning of the year, the 2020 census officially began. The visit kicked off one of the most important constitutional responsibilities of the federal government: counting each person living in the country. The Census Bureau employs thousands of new people every 10 years to ensure the accuracy of an operation on which nearly $1 trillion in federal spending hinges — it’s a big job.
The trip underscored recent efforts by census-takers to better accommodate hard-to-count populations. But Alaskan Natives aren’t the only historically underrepresented group in the census. Other demographics officially designated as “hard to count” by the Census Bureau include Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders; individuals with limited or no access to the internet; and young, mobile people. This particular census cycle has sparked discussion on several college campuses about the intersection of historically underrepresented demographics and another elusive, yet significant, group: college students.
“College students have so much at stake when it comes to the census because it directly impacts their future housing, communities, voting districts, and so much more,” Sarah Gully, a graduate assistant at James Madison University (JMU), told Teen Vogue. “College students are one of the most undercounted populations, which puts college towns, like [ours], at a disadvantage of being underrepresented and underfunded.”
This will likely be the first year that many young college students, who were too young to participate of their own accord in the last decennial census, take part in the tradition. Experts are worried that a lack of awareness of what the census does — plus the specter of the Trump administration’s unsuccessful push to add a citizenship question to the official 2020 census — could deter students from taking part in this year’s count before the deadline by which the Census Bureau must report apportionment counts to Congress and the president.
At risk are myriad federal obligations and billions of dollars that depend, directly or indirectly, on census data that is supposed to accurately reflect the student population. In fiscal year 2016, federal direct student loans totaling over $93 billion represented the second largest federal program guided by 2010 census data, according to the Tax Policy Center, while federal Pell Grants were the sixth largest, with a price tag of nearly $26 billion. Experts told Teen Vogue that federal expenditures like the Pell Grant program rely on a census-derived figure — the Consumer Price Index — and depend on accurate reporting every 10 years.
JMU’s 2020 census initiative, “Count Colleges In,” is a multipronged, student-led campaign to inform students of the many ways in which census data impacts their lives. From social media campaigns to student video and art competitions, the group is going all out to make one thing clear: participation matters. Dr. Carah Ong Whaley, associate director of the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement, is a member of the Virginia Complete Count Commission. She says that this year’s census data will play a vital logistical role in campus operations for years to come.
“JMU, like everyone, has a stake in an accurate census count,” she told Teen Vogue. “At least 30% percent of students attending JMU receive grants, including 15% who were Pell Grant recipients [based on our data for 2017-2018].”
She added that JMU, like many colleges and universities, has a campus voting precinct with boundaries shaped by census numbers. Also at stake is funding for improvements to buildings and classrooms, and academic research from the university reliant on census data.
But Whaley said that many college students don’t understand the census’s import, or even where they should register as residents.
“For college students living away from home, they are counted where they go to school and spend a majority of their time,” she said. “This includes international students studying here. Undercounts of college students will impact the communities in which our campuses are situated, so we have a special responsibility to make sure students know where they count, and to let their parents or guardians know.”
Official language used by the Census Bureau recommends, in general, that people count themselves “where [they] live and sleep most of the time.” Residents of “group facilities” like college dorms can expect Census Bureau employees to work with representatives from their buildings to make sure each resident is accounted for, a process which may or may not require individual residents to complete their own census forms. College students living off-campus should count themselves at their off-campus addresses, even if they spend school breaks at their parents’ homes.
“I previously thought that college students would be counted by their parents in their hometowns,” said Kearstin Kimm, a senior at JMU. “I was surprised to learn that isn’t true, and that we are counted where we live at the time of the census. It can be confusing to people.”
Details like where students should count themselves and why are just a few of the many takeaways from “U.S. Census, Engagement, Representation and Policy,” a course open to students at Mills College in Oakland, California. The class, part of the college’s public policy program, incorporates lessons about the way in which census data informs federal funding streams with public service projects, like translating census materials into Spanish. Despite their efforts and the course’s success, the professors who teach the class remain skeptical about whether this year’s census count will reflect the modern zeitgeist of student activism.
“Unfortunately, there are reasons to think it could get worse,” said Adam Parker, assistant professor of practice at Mills. “Young people today are particularly distrustful of government, and survey data shows that they are less likely to see the value of participating in the census.”
“One point of confusion or contention among many of our students was how the census treats gender as a simple binary,” added Mark Henderson, associate professor of public policy at Mills. “Initially, some in the transgender community on campus suggested boycotting the census over this issue, but going uncounted isn't a good way to claim political power.”
To help spread the word to students, the Census Bureau has provided a free toolkit on its website, complete with frameworks for campus organizations like student councils and newspapers. While the census is a federally mandated process, experts say turnout will be contingent on the quality of outreach in individual states. (Some states have wildly outpaced others in terms of resources they’re devoting for outreach.) According to Kimm, the JMU senior, students shouldn’t lose sight of how important participating in the census will be to maintaining the integrity of the communities they call home, regardless of their state or place of residence.
“We are customers at local stores, restaurants, and other businesses,” she said. “Our education is enriched by federal funding, and we even help elect local representatives. All of these entities — and by extension our lives and college experiences as a whole — are directly affected by data gathered in the census, so it's important that we take advantage of this opportunity.”
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