'It's going horribly': College towns fret about census count

[TexasTowelie]

Betsy Landin was listed by her parents on the 2020 census as living at her family’s home in Phoenix when she really should have been counted in Tempe, where she studies finance at Arizona State University.

Also missing from Tempe’s tally was Arizona State political science major Betzabel Ayala, whose mother counted her on the family’s census form in Phoenix because she was living at home after coronavirus lockdowns led to a nationwide exodus from college towns last spring.

In yet another example of the widespread disruption caused by the global outbreak, hundreds of thousands of U.S. college students who normally live off campus in non-university housing are being counted for the 2020 census at their parents’ homes or other locations when they were supposed to be counted where they go to school.

The confusion has enormous implications for college towns, which may face severe shortfalls in federal dollars and a dilution of political power.

Read more: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/09/09/its-going-horribly-college-towns-fret-about-census-count/

[marybourg]

1. They used to tell us: count yourself where you slept on April 1.

That made it clear, simple and fair. But now they want us to count ourselves early and have confused things, by removing that lodestar of April 1. So how can anyone decide where they should be counted?

[TexasTowelie]

2. At least they don't have to travel to Bethlehem. nt