Census Work Group
The U.S. Census Bureau is partnering with AACRAO to help inform and improve the bureau's data collection process and minimize any undue burdens for stakeholders.
AACRAO and the Census Bureau have created a work group to further explore issues impacting institutions and their group quarters enumeration processes.
In anticipation of the forthcoming 2030 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau is partnering with AACRAO to help inform and improve the bureau's data collection process and minimize any undue burdens for stakeholders. The U.S. Census count is critical
for determining representation and the allocations of federally funded programs, including those in higher education. Historically, certain groups of people have been disproportionately undercounted by the Census. The Census Bureau identifies
all college students as a hard-to-count population because they are highly mobile, may live off-campus as renters, and are often difficult to persuade to participate.
The workgroup will engage in the following activities:
- Work with external stakeholders to establish criteria for participating in the Census Bureau's Decennial Census and surveys, especially those with privacy laws. For example, establishing an agreement with the Department of Education that
will allow all institutions the ability to provide specific data elements to the Census Bureau.
- Gain a better understanding of state and federal laws that affect both demographic and address data that GQ administrators collect from their residents and the specific demographic data they can legally provide to the Census Bureau. This
will help explore alternative methods to obtain required demographic and address data in situations where there have been roadblocks.
- Explore other self-response alternatives, such as Internet Self-Response, for GQ residents that would support the collection of quality data.
Member Participants
- Dennis Maurice Becker,Registrar,University of Denver
- Esther Gulli, Executive Director, Government and Community Relations, UC Berkeley
- Rhonda K. Kitch, University Registrar, Cornell University
- Keith J. Malkowski, Registrar Central Michigan University
- Mary Meserve, Registrar, Bates College
- John R. Papinchak, University Registrar, Carnegie Mellon University
- Audrey Peek, Senior Government Policy and Data Analyst, American Council on Education
- Sarah Spreitzer, Assistant Vice President and Chief of Staff, Government Relations, American Council on Education
The first convening of the work group is January 12, 2023.