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<p>As for the government, no, I don’t think it’s important, because it doesn’t relate to what I consider to be government’s proper role.</p>
<p>As for private business, let them conduct their own census if demographics are so important to them. It’s not an appropriate use of my tax dollarsmy money.</p>
<p>I haven’t got the long form of the Census, yet. I hadn’t seen the college students questions.</p>
<p>So if my kid is home visiting from college for spring break, I shouldn’t count them - because they would be counted already as a dorm resident? </p>
<p>Yikes. I am going to have to think this one through. THe kids usually vote in our local home elections and keep their residency here, even though they live there during the school year.</p>
<p>It seemed clear to me when I read the form. Snapshot in time, as of April 1. If you had a troop of girlscouts spending the night at your house April 1, they all get counted. If college kid is home for spring break on April 1 he gets counted.
But apparently my interpretation may be wrong. BTW, is there a long form this year? Will a small sample of the population be singled out for additional harassment? Like an IRS audit. If they ask about race, for whatever reason, will they eventually ask about sexual orientation?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t count the troop of girl scouts, NJres. Let their parents worry about their birthdates and racial makeup!</p>
<p>Besides, someday your great-grandchildren would look back at the 2010 census and wonder if you were maybe running a girls’ orphanage out of your home.</p>
<p>Re long form, a sample of the population will receive the American Community Survey in addition to the short census. The census site calls it “ongoing” so I don’t know the time frame of it.
[American</a> Community Survey (ACS)](<a href=“http://www.census.gov/acs/www/]American”>American Community Survey (ACS))</p>
<p>Other questions I checked on the website:<br>
If you plan on living at the same place on April 1, fill it out now and send it in.<br>
College students should be counted where they usually live.
Anybody who willfully gives false info could be fined up to $500.</p>
<p>This page explains the different questions. Question 2 and Question 10 seem to be cross-check answers that double check whether you are filling it out correctly.
[The</a> Questions on the Form - 2010 Census](<a href=“http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php]The”>http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php)</p>
<p>There is a phone number for folks who have more questions. I didn’t see anything addressing temporary stays on April 1 - like a business trip, or sleep over, or hospitalization, but my guess would be to count the person in their “usual” abode.</p>
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<p>I understand that if you don’t answer certain key questions, a census-taker will come a-knockin’ at your door to get the answers in person, but I don’t know which questions trigger such a visit.</p>
<p>I raised my eyebrow when I saw that they wanted to know whether you owned or rented the home you lived in and whether there was a mortgage. hmmmm</p>
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I don’t understand this. The census is not getting the information on race from the college. They are getting the information from the student filling out the census form. The student knows what race they are, right?</p>
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<p>Asked since 1890. (At least the owned or rented portion. Not sure when/if they asked about mortgage.)</p>
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<p>Then I guess I’d better expect a visitor. While I filled in the number of people, ages, sex and race, I did not provide names or birthdates. Why is that information pertinent?</p>
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When I wrote that, I didn’t know that each student would get a form.</p>
<p>Many students prefer to not disclose their race, and it appears that the Census is forcing them to do so. Haven’t you read that the fastest-growing minority for colleges is “race not disclosed”? </p>
<p>They may have to chase down more than a few of those college students who are used to not indicating their race on forms, as it appears to be optional for everything but the Census…Good luck with that, US Census! (And, as someone already noted, it’s going to be tricky once those students have left the campus for the summer. The federal Census workers are going to have to chase them down swiftly and soon!)</p>
<p>I just filled out our form. In the “start here” section, it says to include all people who usually live here. So that answers the question about girl scout troop sleep overs, or business trips, or mini-vacations.</p>
<p>This is a very simple form compared to the censuses I use for genealogy. Other information I can find on previous forms include (depending on year) how long a couple has been married, how old they were at first marriage, whether they are employed, whether they attended school in the past 12 months, whether they’ve been in the military, where they were born (state or country), etc. The 1900 census included month and year of birth. Don’t know of any other that included birthdate. (Only 1930 and earlier have been made public so far.)</p>
<p>Names would be important to cross check to make sure they weren’t counted twice. Lots of folks share birthdates; sharing both name and birthdate is less likely.</p>
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<p>The government already knows that about you, if you’re taking the mortgage interest deduction. Why so scary?</p>
<p>And the owner/renter has been on census forms for probably 100 years; I’ve seen it on census records of 1910, 1920 and 1930 that I’ve used for genealogy purposes.</p>
<p>Just please, spell everything right and use good handwriting. My genealogy was substantially derailed for a while because my Keller ancestors were classified as “Killer.” LOL.</p>