For many people in the United States, filling out the address line on the decennial U.S…. For many people in the United States, filling out the address line on the decennial U.S. Census is fairly straightforward: They live at one location.

But because college students are a highly mobile group, they are historically misrepresented in the survey, according to the U.S. Census Bureau website.

Ben Ramos, partnership coordinator at the Philadelphia Regional Census Center, attempted to explain how students will complete the census.

The census, which is taken every 10 years, aims to count people “where they’re living and they’re working and they’re spending most of their time,” he said.

That means college students will complete the survey in the following ways:

Students living on campus

On-campus residence halls and fraternities are considered group quarters. Students living in group quarters are counted during Group Quarters Enumeration between April 1 and May 21. They fill out an Individual Census Report.

A Census Bureau employee meets in advance with a member of Student Affairs to discuss the most effective method of distributing the census, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Census on Campus Initiative website.

Pitt spokeswoman Patricia White said she did not know last night how Pitt planned to coordinate with census workers.

Students living off campus

Students living in off-campus housing, such as apartments or houses, will receive a census questionnaire in March. They should fill out the questionnaire and return it by April 1, which is Census Day. The Census Bureau is training people to go door to door to collect census data from households that do not return the questionnaire by April 1.

Non-citizens

Since the U.S. Census counts every person living in the United States, citizens and non-citizens alike should fill out the form. International students whose primary residence is in the United States on April 1 should fill out the census, according to a U.S. Census Bureau fact sheet.

Study-abroad students

According to the Census Bureau website, if you are studying abroad on April 1, 2010, you will not be counted in the census. If you are studying abroad for part of the year, but are living in the United States on April 1, you should fill out a census form.

Information to know about the census

Ramos emphasized that the information provided by individuals for the census is strictly confidential.

By law, the Census Bureau cannot share individual responses with any agency, and Census Bureau employees take an oath and may be fined and sent to jail for disclosing confidential information, according to a Census Bureau factsheet.

“The only information that most of us read about or know about the census is used for statistical purposes only,” Ramos said. Statistical information is used by individuals and businesses cam use the data to help them understand the dynamics of a community for planning and marketing purposes. The results of the census can affect government officials’ decisions about critical services, such as how to fund transportation and public health and safety. Government student loans and public education funds are also allocated based on the population counts obtained from the census.

Ramos also stressed that the 2010 Census questionnaire is the shortest form in the history of the census, since its inception in 1790. Population data obtained from the census is used to allocate funds and determine political representation at the federal, state and municipal levels.

“So that’s why it’s important to conduct a complete and full count of every resident,” Ramos said. “It has nothing to do with immigration … The Constitution requires us to conduct a full count of every individual living in the U.S.”