A complete and accurate count in 2020 is so important that the U.S. Census Bureau is hiring an estimated 500,000 temporary employees to ensure everyone is counted.

“I have the recruiting staff go to the student unions at least once a week (if the schools allow them to) and set up a recruiting table,’’ said Marquette Youngblood, recruiting coordinator in the Dallas Regional Census Center.

Recruiters also go to other high-traffic areas “like the school gym to recruit students on campus while they are grabbing lunch or taking a break during the day to work out,” he said.

Students in college towns use critical local resources, including roads, public transportation and health clinics.

Getting funds for those resources, however, depends on making sure students are counted in the right place each census. And in most instances, if they’re not living at their parents’ home, chances are the right place is in the town where they attend school. Basically, a student’s “home” is where they currently live while attending college.

“Young college students may be going off on their own for the first time, and when they see a postcard or a census worker and are asked to take the census, they may not understand that they’re supposed to take it where they’re living,” said Evan Curtis, state planning coordinator and co-chair of the Utah Complete Count Committee. “They’re not just supposed to assume that their mom or dad will fill it in for them at home.”

The Utah committee is one of many such Complete Count Committees across the country working to educate their communities about the importance of responding to the 2020 Census—and how to accurately respond.