The displacement of students as a precaution of the COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about how BGSU students should complete their 2020 Census forms in order to be counted correctly.
Students shouldn’t be counting themselves at their parents’ house, said Katie Mihaly, a BGSU library and outreach specialist who has been at the forefront of planning to bring awareness of the census to campus.
“(Students) should report as if they are in Bowling Green, at the place they would be living if the coronavirus situation wasn’t happening,” she said.
Students who are living on campus in dorms shouldn’t worry about being counted since the school reports them.
Census codes should have been received in the mail. Mihaly said off-campus students, who may not be getting their mail in Bowling Green, can still complete the form online without a code.
“If they have roommates, ideally coordinate with roommates and let one person out of the household report for everyone,” she added.
The deadline for filling out census forms is in August, according to the 2020 Census website. Students who are unaware they need to complete the census or unsure of how to do so have time to be counted correctly.