Today’s Daily contains a story about Census 2000.

It seems a few students may be confused about what address they should list in the upcoming census.

Some students are tempted for one reason or another to list their permanent residence as their parent’s home. After all, many students feel like temporary residents of Ames and the university makes a distinction between “school” and “permanent” addresses.

But the rules for the census are quite clear.

Regardless of where your heart is, the census counts home as the place you reside and sleep for the majority of the year.

That certainly is good news for the city of Ames.

Perched on the brink of metropolitan status, Ames is depending on its student residents to count themselves as part of the Ames family.

That sounds about par for the course.

When the city of Ames wants to send its police to look for drunks, do they choose downtown establishments to camp in front of? No.

They much prefer to express their tender feelings for their beloved student population by parking officers on the corner of Chamberlain and Welch waiting for drunk students to step out of line.

When students seek to get minors into bars so they can be part of the main social activity in this town, do they get the kind of consideration students in Iowa City receive?

No. The city of Ames only likes its student population for one thing: money. When it comes to the enormous amount of disposable income students bring to Ames, we are always welcome.

When it comes to the city of Ames upgrading from podunk to metropolitan, you better believe we will be courted like a debutante in an Old West mining town from now until the census is over with.

You will be reminded of the rules over and over again and encouraged to actively participate in the census rather than just blowing off the forms when they are passively mailed to you.

In the next semester you are going to hear about how much students will benefit from counting themselves as Ames residents.

How the boons the federal government will bestow upon Ames will filter down into the lives of generations of students to come.

You will be asked to look at the big picture.

Do look at the big picture and remember that no matter how unfair these guidelines may seem to you and your hometown, rules are rules.

Failure to comply with the census could mean they will call you up later in the semester.

Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.