Committee hears concerns about group‑quarters enumeration and FERPA/Title 13 tensions

Philip Rocco and the Georgetown presenters described group‑quarters enumeration as operationally distinct from household enumeration and highlighted legal frictions that complicated the 2020 count. Rocco said about 8.2 million people live in group quarters nationwide and that Massachusetts had approximately 245,000 GQ residents. He explained that colleges often provided administrator lists that lacked full demographic fields because FERPA limits what institutions can share without student consent.

Amy O'Hara and Beth Jarris told the committee that missing demographic elements in administrative lists (for example, race or Hispanic origin) led to imputation and, in some cases, greater reliance on administrative records. O'Hara noted the Census Bureau has used procedures such as the Post‑Census Group Quarters Review (PCGQR) to permit jurisdictions to request review—Boston's PCGQR filing identified a little over 6,000 missing students. The panel underscored that Title 13 requires statistical use and confidentiality; nevertheless the collision with FERPA and other statutory duties can create practical barriers to sharing complete lists for enumeration.