University of Colorado at Boulder students, faculty and staff members are encouraged to participate in the 2000 United States Census, which begins this month.
"Participating in the census is in everyone's best interest," said CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny. "People who answer the census help their communities obtain federal funding and valuable information for planning for hospitals, roads and more."
Census forms began being delivered to rural areas in early March and a countywide mailing will occur in mid-March. The numbers obtained through the census, which occurs every 10 years, will determine the distribution of millions of dollars in federal funds within Boulder County.
College students traditionally are a difficult population to count accurately, and census officials say they would appreciate help from CU-Boulder students in providing census information.
In a change from previous census counts, students living away from home while attending college are counted where they are living at college. This is an effort to more fairly provide federal and state resources where populations reside rather than back in a student's home state or community, census officials said.
Census takers will distribute questionnaires to people who live in campus residence halls. Students living in off-campus housing where mail is delivered by street name and house number will receive a census questionnaire in the mail. Questionnaires will be delivered by census takers to housing in other areas.
Students living at their parents' homes while attending CU-Boulder are counted at their parents' homes. International students who are part of a household in the United States are counted at that household because they make use of 911 services and county roads, census officials said.
"Students at colleges and universities can receive increased monies, such as financial aid, if they take the time to fill out the census," said Daniel Pabon, tri-executive of the University of Colorado Student Union. "They can also have higher allocations of affordable housing in their areas. The impacts of the census are large and in a matter of minutes, students can make their voices heard."
By law, the U.S. Census Bureau cannot share answers with any other government agency. All census workers are sworn to secrecy and face stiff legal penalties for giving out any information they see on a form. All answers provided to the Census Bureau are reported only as a statistical summary that cannot be traced to individual names or addresses.
The census count will determine the allocation of federal and state dollars and influence private business decisions for the next decade. Many CU-Boulder professors conduct research that makes use of U.S. Census information.
The 2000 Census will determine the number of representatives Colorado will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. The census will determine if Colorado receives a seventh seat.
The census also will determine the share the county receives from lottery money and will affect state and federal support for Head Start, Community Block Grants, care for the elderly and many other programs.