HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 4/14/2020 - Memorandum From Honore Depew Re: Follow Up On Census Guidance For Students1 of 1 | P a g e
City Manager’s Office
PO Box 580
300 LaPorte Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
Date: April 8, 2020
To: Mayor Troxell and City Councilmembers
Through: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager
From: Honore Depew, Interim Policy and Project Manager
Re: Follow Up on Census Guidance for Students
After a staff report on the 2020 Census during the April 7 City Council meeting, additional
information about how students should be reported was obtained from CSU and the U.S.
Census Bureau.
Bottom Line
Students should be counted where they attend school, even though they may have temporarily
relocated due to COVID-19.
Information from Colorado State University’s Office of the President and U.S. Census Bureau
CSU has shared the official guidance from the U.S. Census Bureau that students living away
from home at a college or university should be counted at school, even if they are
temporarily elsewhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a student who may be
currently at their parents’ house in Denver but normally living and studying in Fort Collins is
considered a resident of Fort Collins.
College students living in on-campus housing are counted through their university as part of
the Group Quarters Operation, which counts all students living in university-owned housing. In
addition to college dormitories, the Group Quarters Operation also includes places like nursing
homes, group homes, halfway houses, and prisons.
Prior to the actions taken in response to the COVID virus, CSU had developed plans to
distribute paper forms to each resident. They felt it would be beneficial to have each student
complete the Census and share how they identify based on gender, race, and other identities
rather than CSU assigning that value. It would have also been an opportunity to educate
students on the importance of completing the Census. Those plans had to be abandoned as
CSU instructed residence hall residents to head home if they could. Door-to-door Census takers
on campus have also become impractical for obvious reasons.
CSU is currently reviewing an e-response option and President McConnell is working with her
leadership team to determine how CSU can use directory information to complete the census.
The Census Bureau informed CSU they have until July 15 to complete this process, so the
university is working with that goal in mind.
DocuSign Envelope ID: F6E4BC0B-291D-4D55-9E7D-4248DE7DD795