Officials in some college towns across the country plan to challenge the 2020 census results, saying vacant campuses emptied because of the COVID-19 pandemic cost them a fair account.

In its review of 75 metropolitan areas that are home to the largest proportions of residents between the ages of 20 and 24, The Associated Press found that in some cities the census count was significantly lower than the population estimates. In others, the count exceeded estimates.

For example, in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University, the numbers were 7% lower, according to AP. Indiana University, which has about 48,000 students, left its classrooms just as the census began. Bloomington officials believe their city’s census results were too low.

“It’s just not a believable number,” Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton told AP. “The simplest explanation is that the count was made after the university told students, ‘Don’t go back to Bloomington and go back to your parents.’ I don’t blame anyone. The university did what it had to do to protect its students.

But in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Huntsville, Texas, AP found results exceeded local estimates by 6%. In Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, Mayor Walt Maddox told the AP that last year’s census put the city at just under 100,000, an important threshold that decides whether cities receive certain funding streams. Maddox said correctly counting off-campus students living in the city would make up the difference.

“In terms of economic development, the perception of being above 100,000 has a greater psychological impact on your recruitment and development,” Maddox told AP.

Funding, in-game representation

Much is at stake. Census data determines the distribution of seats in the United States House of Representatives, as well as billions of dollars in federal funding. The results last until the next census in 10 years.

For cities and towns built around universities, accurate census information often depends on how students are counted. According to the AP report, the academic records of students living on campus may have been more easily aggregated than those of students living off campus, which likely contributed to the inaccurate count.

Gathering information on this demographic group presented challenges from the start. A US Census Bureau press release in June 2020 said efforts were being made to solicit data on off-campus students from college administrators. An earlier version asked students to declare their residence as “the place where they live and sleep most of the time”.

But this led to some confusion. As schools asked students to shelter in place and wait for the pandemic to worsen, communities usually teeming with off-campus student life have quieted down. Students were back home, many unsure where to count their residence. At State College, Pennsylvania, AP reported that neighborhoods normally dominated by Penn State students had the lowest census response rates in the region.

Challenge the numbers

In a letter sent this month to the Census Bureau, Boston Mayor Kim Janey said she would challenge her city’s census results, attributing low response rates to fewer students and wavering foreign residents. on citizenship issues, language barriers and government.

Janey said a city survey at the start of the school year counted 5,000 local students who weren’t included in the final tally later. Another 500 inmates at Boston’s two correctional facilities were also not counted.

Despite their differences, Janey expressed her gratitude for the work of the office.

“The pandemic could not have come at a more inopportune time for the decennial census,” she wrote in the letter. “Our desire to have a more accurate population count for Boston does not diminish our appreciation of the valuable resources provided by the Census Bureau.”

The bureau’s Count Issues Resolution operation offers officials the opportunity to challenge census results, but it will only consider geographic issues and coverage issues, such as a missed apartment building or counts made using incorrect limits. Communities can start submitting their applications in January.

Few complaints filed after the 2010 census — the last time all U.S. residents were counted — led to a correction, according to the bureau’s website.

Some information for this report comes from AP.