You may use it to write a research paper. You may encounter its effects when you pay rent or ride the bus or sit in a classroom. It determines a myriad of services and programs you come into contact with daily, and it asks only that you spend 10 minutes filling out a form every 10 years.
The U.S. Census, conducted decennially since George Washington’s administration, is crucially instrumental in providing communities with everything from congressional representation to schools, highway construction, hospital services and programs for the elderly.
Completing an accurate count of every citizen in the country is no easy task, however, as the 2000 census’s $5 million budget confirms. The majority of households receive the “short form” format, which asks only seven subjects including name, sex, race, age, etc. One in six residences, however, will need to fill in 27 more questions regarding ancestry, employment and education among others.
On campus, census enumerators will be conducting counts of all dorm residents beginning April 28, following the nationally designated Census Day on April 1. Those living in off-campus housing should have already received their forms, which are due to be returned by mail no later than April 11.
Mike Steenhout, manager of the local census office, said students who live and attend school full-time in Eugene need to be counted as such, not as members of their parents household elsewhere. Even students with citizenship in another country will be counted as Oregonians because they currently live and work here.
“Some $200 billion per year in federal funds is at stake,” he said. “A lot of money comes to universities, and those subsidies are based on population counts.”
Steenhout wanted to encourage students to participate, reiterating that all information is held in confidence, protected by federal law and unique in America in that it is constitutionally mandated. Also, Oregon was the 14th most undercounted state in the last census, some of which affected campus communities across the state.
“It’s so important because it is literally the cornerstone of our democracy,” he said.
For college students in particular, such data is used by employers to understand the incoming workforce demographic, and federally subsidized loan funds are determined from collected information.
“The census isn’t only a head count,” said Kanhaiya Vaidya, senior demographer for the state of Oregon, “but shows us how populations are changing over time.”
He said Oregon suffered a 1.9-percent undercount in the 1990 census, missing approximately 54,000 state residents and resulting in the forfeiture of “at least $4 million dollars per year in federal money.” A state the size of California, for example, lost more that $200 million a year from an insufficient count.
Vaidya’s office, through tracking and analysis of population figures, makes recommendations to Gov. Kitzhaber for the specific allocation of government dollars throughout the state, including those targeting minority programs and Native American reservations.
“We are anxious for the 2000 census so we can benchmark trends,” he said. “Student enrollment, for instance, was down but now the 18 to 24 age group is higher, so more people are entering college. It’s important to track.”
The local census office is hiring from the community for help with enumeration, especially bilingual individuals to help with Latino populations. Contact 888-325-7733 for more information.