The University and U.S. Census Bureau have made efforts throughout the past week to encourage students to complete the decennial questionnaire.
Census workers, for example, have handed out forms on the Corner and have been stationed in Newcomb Hall to provide information about the survey, which was sent out in mid-March.
Students' participation in the census is instrumental in determining the distribution of resources, said Pat Lampkin, the University's vice president for student affairs.
"It is our civic duty," she said. "We do this once every 10 years, and it helps us know where people are living and helps in terms of identifying resources and how to allocate them."
Forms completed by students living on Grounds were turned in yesterday and are currently being counted. Thus far, the on-Grounds response rate is in the mid-90 percent range, Lampkin said.
This high response rate may partly be because of the intimate living situation of dormitories. First-year College student Madeline Sargent, for instance, said she believes Resident Staff was effective in encouraging students to fill out the survey, which was simple and easy to complete.
"Our RA took care of it," she said. "I haven't seen anything that the University has done [to promote student response] but they're not gearing it toward me. For dorms, they did great."
Meanwhile, the office of community relations is working very closely with students living off Grounds to promote their completion of the survey, Lampkin said, but there is no way to know the response rate of these students.
Third-year College student Saara Zaman said completing the census is an important duty "because it helps to formulate better policy measures that take into account the diversity of the American population."
Nevertheless, the survey can carry some negative associations, as second-year College student Shivesh Puri pointed out.
"I understand the importance of the census in terms of understanding the ethnic and socioeconomic composition of our country, but the placing of people into racial boxes makes me uncomfortable and it perpetuates the division of our country along racial lines by rooting our identity in race," Puri said.
Students in general may neglect to fill out the census form because they misunderstood the message and believed that another person would complete it for them, Lampkin said. "There is always going to be a small element that tend to ignore things until it becomes a problem," she said.
The census also could suffer from the mobile nature of the University community, third-year College student Raisa Saab said. Because the census will not be implemented into government policy until next year, these statistics may not even remain completely accurate for the near future.
"I think it's interesting that since I'm moving next year, it won't really be an accurate indication of that location at that time," Saab said.
For students who still wish to turn in the census, Lampkin said the absolute last date to turn in the form is Dec. 31, even though the official deadline was April 1.
"The push will continue until they get all of [the forms]," Lampkin said, noting that counting will continue throughout the summer.
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