Required by the Constitution, the census is conducted once every 10 years. Census data affect politcal representation and direct distribution of billions of dollars in annual federal funding. In your academic community, census data funding for critical services and help shape community decisions for the rest of the decade.

The census counts everyone residing in the United States,a nd people should be counted where they live and sleep most of the year. However, the highly mobile college student population has historically been hard to count. Consequently, if they are under-represented in the census, students and the academic communities they live in might not receive their fair share of funds and services.