Darvin Nelson, News Editor

Featured image by Christin Hume via Unsplash.

Have you done the 2020 Census? The deadline for the Census is approaching and college students are at risk of being counted in the wrong place (their college city), since many have moved back home.

In Jacksonville, only 66% of residents have responded to the census – including college students.

Billions of dollars are at stake for federal pell grants, health care, school safety. The U.S. Census Bureau is doing what they can to make sure college students are counted in the right place.

• If you have left on-campus housing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, you do not need to count yourself because the University will count you. If you lived off campus, then you should count yourself where you were living on April 1 in your college city, not on your parent’s response. 
• If a census taker contacts you, please cooperate and answer questions so that you can be covered in the 2020 census. 

The Bureau has a press release about working with colleges with a great number of off-campus students and ensuring an accurate count of college students.

Students who live off campus should respond to the census because the results affect billions of dollars in funding every year for the next decade. You can respond online at 2020Census.gov.

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