Purdue students should fill out Census

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis is urging Purdue students to fill out the 2010 Census.

Community and campus leaders held a press conference Tuesday morning to encourage Purdue students to take the time to fill out the form.

Dennis said West Lafayette benefits greatly by students completing the census. 

"Right now the city of West Lafayette is a Class III city. We are a few thousand people short of being a Class II. If we improve our class status up to a Class II, it allows for us to have better opportunities to generate revenue through grants, through some surplus funding through the federal government as well especially when you are looking at road and highway projects," said Dennis.

Assistant Dean of Students, Harry Brown, said the University benefits as well.

"There are certain monies that would come to Purdue in terms of changes in traffic patterns that have been talked about how to improve the campus, make it safer, more acceptable, easier for students to get around. There's federal dollars in cooperation with state and local government that goes to improving the infrastructure that supports Purdue," said Brown.

Brown said all 40,000 students who live on campus are encouraged to fill out the census. Mayor Dennis said a city needs 35,000 residents to qualify as a Class II city.

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