Census schooled about college miscount

America's higher education system has become a big racket, and nothing has highlighted what a scam it is like the past 2 years have.

After the way colleges and universities have treated their students lately, we have every right to see these institutions punished accordingly – not rewarded. You can't unsee how bad these schools have become. I have zero faith in most of academia now. The actions of our colleges are not recognizably compatible with a liberal democracy.

But they're rakin' in the rewards!

The 2020 census took place in April 2020 – the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The census is supposed to reflect America's population as of April 1, 2020. But the U.S. Census Bureau had a policy that guaranteed colleges would be overcounted. Under this policy, students are counted "where they would have been living and sleeping" on April 1 had their schools not closed down and sent everyone home because of COVID.

So it's not even accurate. Instead of counting students where they actually lived, the census counted them as living on campus or elsewhere in their college community, even though they were sent home by then – and many have not returned. Had they not been sent home, there would have been a reason to count them as living in their college town. Instead, they were counted as part of college communities that had ceased to exist for the time being.

Many of these colleges and their surrounding towns have not recovered. Each of the past couple years, colleges have predicted record enrollment because of a backlog of students who were forced out in 2020 returning. But this record enrollment never comes, as many students don't come back. After all, why should they?

In cities, towns, and counties all over America, an accurate census is critical to funding decisions and political representation. Yet – with the census overcounting college communities - the classist elites who run our institutions of higher book-burnin' are getting funds meant for elsewhere. These are the same elites who have made many of the disastrous decisions of the past 2 years. America outside of college towns will face severe shortfalls in public funds and political power.

But some students actually were properly counted as living at home. To combat this proper count, some colleges wanted the Census Bureau to conduct a special census in the fall of 2020 so students could be counted as living in their college town. The problem for schools then was that so many schools decided to operate like prisons, so a lot of students didn't return.

To fight the overcount of college towns, the government should reissue the results of the 2020 census with revised numbers. Redistricting of legislative seats should reflect this.

Those of us outside college towns are victims not only of classism and credentialism but also taxation without representation.

There must also be punishment for those in charge of our colleges and universities who have been responsible for the atrocities of the past 2 years. They must never be allowed to serve in a position of trust ever again. They must be replaced by people who do their jobs right.