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Census count a bit tricky for some

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 11:39 PM Friday, February 5, 2010

HAMILTON — Residents of college dorms and nursing homes may soon be visited by U.S. Census Bureau workers as they prepare to tally those living in “group quarters” for the big count.

Now the trick is to keep them from being counted twice.

The census counts people where they reside on April 1, meaning college students are counted at their dorm or apartment, but not by their parents back home, according to census and school officials.

This is part of an educational campaign that Miami University is rolling out as census workers prepare to hand-deliver forms to the dorms there.

Regional Census Bureau spokesman Kim Hunter said the bureau will be visiting colleges, nursing homes and other group quarters across Butler County in April. They are contacting these institutions now to make arrangements.

At nursing homes, residents will also ideally fill out the forms themselves.

“Those who are unable to complete the form can do so with the assistance of a duly sworn ... census worker or hospital staff member,” Hunter said. “If neither of those methods is viable, we will use administrative records.”

Census workers can face a $25,000 fine and five years in prison for releasing personal information collected during the census.

Miami spokeswoman Carole Johnson said the university has roughly 7,000 students living on campus — more than ever before now that sophomores are required to live in dorms — and 7,400 off-campus.

“All of our student residents will definitely be counted, and those students off campus will be counted as well,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to get everybody to stand up and be counted, and doing a lot of things on campus to make them aware.”