With census results from throughout the country trickling into the U.S. Census Bureau, College census enumerators have begun using the Dartmouth Name Directory to compile information for students who failed to return census forms, according to Director of Residential Operations Woody Eckels.
Census officials will turn to the College roster to achieve a more accurate population count, according to Laura Waldon, a partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau.
This will help officials account for students living in residence halls and on-campus Greek houses who did not submit completed census forms to the Hinman Mail Center, she said.
Using the DND will allow census enumerators to obtain the necessary information on Dartmouth students without contacting them directly, Waldon said. At other universities such as the University of New Hampshire residential advisors will work with census enumerators to personally urge students living in dormitories to return census forms.
Students living in off-campus housing who did not return mail-back forms are counted separately, and may receive as many as three personal visits and three phone calls from census takers hired to collect responses, Waldon said.
"Enumerators on campus initially get a roster to see who has turned in the form and who hasn't," Waldon said. "Using the roster, in most cases we can at least get a straight population count. When a census taker visits an off-campus household, they'll leave a notice of visit at the door and the individual can call back the census taker."
Approximately 68 percent of Grafton County residents returned their census forms, while 71 percent of New Hampshire residents overall have returned the surveys, according to Concord census office manager Brenda Dixon.
The return rate on campus currently stands at 75 percent, and students can still return completed forms to the Hinman Mail Center, according to Eckels.
"I don't know enough about return rates to say whether 75 percent is good or bad, but in terms of student surveys, I would say it is excellent," Eckels said.
Census forms were due on April 15.
The U.S. Census Bureau increased its level of paid advertising this year to spread the word about the 2010 Census, part of an effort to target "problem" demographics such as college students, according to Waldon. Nationally, the return rate has reached 72 percent.
"Larger-scale advertising has definitely been effective," Waldon said. "There was a lot of anticipation that we would have a lower response rate in this census because of the different events like 9/11 that have occurred since the last census. We knew we had an uphill battle to climb to get the word out that the census was not only easy, but also safe."
While some students regard the forms as a hassle, student involvement is necessary for the government to accurately distribute funding for services such as transportation and medical centers, according to Dixon.
"It's incredibly important for students to be aware of the census," Waldon said. "What many students may not realize is that this short little seven to 10 question' form impacts their voice in Congress and how more than $400 billion in funding each year is allocated to states and communities."
Census takers expect to finish compiling student information by the second week of May, Dixon said.
Several students said that filling out their census forms was simple.
"It was pretty easy once I made it to the [Hopkins Center] to get it," Ian Martin-Katz '13 said. "The only way they could have made it easier is if they had brought it to my room for me."
