New Census Rules Will Keep Huntington From Falling Below 50,000 (Charleston: rent, get credit)

[CTMountaineer]

New rules allow for counting college dorm residents and mental health facility residents. That will save Huntington from the dreaded fate of falling below another 10K marker.

Newest Census Rules on Web Should Push Huntington Well Over 50,000 - Huntington News Network

These same provisions will also allow for even more significant gains in Morgantown, and since most of the dorms there are within the city limits that is especially significant there.

[NOVAmtneer82]

How can counting college dorm students, many of whom are from out of state, as Morgantown residents not be considered artificially inflating Morgantown's population yet Charleston trying to merge with Kanawha County is? If these rules are going to be the new standard practice then the Census Bureau has just given a major boost to many cities...Washington DC alone would add over 50,000 new residents based on a partial college enrollment count.

[David Kennedy]

By 'cooking the books in this fashion, Federal money in the pipeline continues to flow.

Many 'cash cow programs are determined by the number of people serviced...for instance, food programs....serve a certain number of people day in day out...and the staffing, rent for buildings, vehicles, labor, ect costs are determined by a fixed ratio of service to patrons.
If the numbers fall, that means the budget should be held accountable and lowered in porportion....It does not work that way in government...and people confuse these mind sets to business...
Government was NEVER business, unless the monkey kind.

Federal programs must constantly expand...they are never cut unless they have been formed by the opposing party and serve a group that is not in favor...citing the Coastal Oil Agreements of a few years ago...drilling when gasoline was so high. Those agreements are set to expire and gasoline prices will increase...(unstable demand and supply) artifically triggered...and who pays for all this?
Well, It's not the man in the moon, bucko!

At one time the Census was an honorable thing...not so any more, gives the Formaters the clues of how to massage and lead the people with propaganda. Didn't a guy just get hung in Kentucky?

[WVUPharm2007]

So, what, is Morgantown's "population" going to be 50k+ now, too? The Census folks have lost their mind.

Although Morgantown needs more money that the rest of the state, so maybe its a good thing...

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

How can counting college dorm students, many of whom are from out of state, as Morgantown residents not be considered artificially inflating Morgantown's population yet Charleston trying to merge with Kanawha County is? If these rules are going to be the new standard practice then the Census Bureau has just given a major boost to many cities...Washington DC alone would add over 50,000 new residents based on a partial college enrollment count.

Mergers between political entities have nothing to do with it. The Census Bureau has decided that since students spend most of their time in the host city, that city will get credit for them as residents. In the past, it was the "home of record". Charleston will get credit for the dorm students at the University of Charleston, I am certain.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by WVUPharm2007

So, what, is Morgantown's "population" going to be 50k+ now, too? The Census folks have lost their mind.

Although Morgantown needs more money that the rest of the state, so maybe its a good thing...

Morgantown is hampered by relatively restrictive geographic limits (the town is basically fully inhabited, with no room for expansion within the limits). Most of the real population growth there is happening on the outskirts of town. The real population (most of the year) is in excess of 50,000 due to student population. However, only about 5,000 of those students (dorm residents) will be counted in the census. Huntington will get credit for their approximately 2,000 dorm residents as well as the residents in the nut house, and that will keep them from dropping a notch.

[WVUPharm2007]

So is it just kids in the dorm, or all of the students? Because Morgantown's population might be over 60,000 if they included all of the students.

[WVUPharm2007]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Morgantown is hampered by relatively restrictive geographic limits (the town is basically fully inhabited, with no room for expansion within the limits). Most of the real population growth there is happening on the outskirts of town. The real population (most of the year) is in excess of 50,000 due to student population. However, only about 5,000 of those students (dorm residents) will be counted in the census. Huntington will get credit for their approximately 2,000 dorm residents as well as the residents in the nut house, and that will keep them from dropping a notch.

Ah, so its just the dorm. So Mo'Town might break 40k. They have a "nut house" too, do they not?

[tbailey1138]

I saw this the other day. MU has about 2,500 students in the dorms. When combined with all others that are to be added with the new rules, Huntington will likely have about 53,000 residents, making it the largest city in the state and possibly the only class 1 city in the state. WVU has about 5,500 to add to Morgantown and will likely put it at the 36,000 range making it pass Parkersburg for the third largest city in the state.

Seems that some of you are getting what you asked for with some students being counted. Morgantown has encouraged WVU students to register as citizens since at least the 2000 census, something that Huntington has never done with MU students. It's interesting that other cities around the country have been doing this for some time.

[WVUPharm2007]

Originally Posted by tbailey1138

Morgantown has encouraged WVU students to register as citizens since at least the 2000 census,

They did? Must not have done a very good job of actually telling the students this because I went there for 5 years and this is the first I've ever heard of it...