With the 2020 U.S. Census underway, residential students at Elmhurst can quickly and easily be counted with a visit to the Frick Center on March 18 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

The College currently has about 925 residential students, “and we want to count them all,” says Michael Emerson, executive director for facilities management. He will manage a table on March 18 where students can fill out census form that then can be mailed or completed online. Laptops and tablets will be on hand, as will pizza.

The census, which counts the U.S. population every 10 years, determines the size of congressional districts and how federal funds are distributed throughout the country. Responding to the census is critical to ensure that the City of Elmhurst gets its fair share of funds for roads, public transportation, hospitals and other services that support the city and the College.

Census forms will be sent to households this month. Families are asked to report the number of members sleeping at home as of April 1, excluding college students who are living away. Because residential students are sleeping in residence halls or other campus housing, they are considered full-time residents of Elmhurst, Emerson says.

Students should look in their mail for the census form, which will include a code that’s needed to submit the form online, Emerson said. The form doesn’t require citizenship information or a social security number, and the information isn’t shared with other government offices, he added.

Households that don’t respond after three additional mailings are visited by census takers. “We are working hard to make sure that census takers don’t have to come onto campus in order to get a response from our residential community,” Emerson said.