Current Oregon State University students who were residing in Corvallis or Bend before the emergence of COVID-19 should still be counting Corvallis or Bend as their primary residence on the 2020 Census, regardless of whether they have temporarily moved home due to the virus.
Relatives or friends that students may be staying with temporarily should not count these students in their census questionnaires if that student would normally be living in Corvallis or Bend, either on or off campus.
This information and more can be found at the official census website: https://2020census.gov/en/who-to-count.html
Accurate census data is crucial to communities because that data is used to determine distribution of funds for crucial services such as hospitals, fire departments, schools, roads and more for the next decade.
In the last census, the Corvallis campus and surrounding area had the highest undercount in Oregon (by 30 percent), which is why it’s crucial that students know to claim their college town as their residence during the count.
“The student population is half of the population in Corvallis,” said Corvallis City Councilor Barbara Bull (Ward 4). “It is critically important that all who should be counted in Corvallis are counted here. The census rule has consistently been that people should be counted where they reside most of the time. This is regardless of residency, citizenship status, or where they happen to sleep on census day. A great deal of government funding is allocated based on census counts, we need to get this right.”
If students, faculty or staff, have questions about how they can promote the census in their course or in student/department virtual meetings, they can email OSU contact Eric Beeler at [email protected].
