BLOOMINGTON — Census 2010 will have one of the shortest surveys in history — just 10 questions.

The questionnaires will be mailed to residences in mid-March and are due back by April 1. Census takers will be knocking on doors between May and July to contact residents who fail to return the forms.

By law, the U.S. Census Bureau has to deliver the official population count to President Obama by December 2010. The new count will start affecting per capita reimbursements to municipalities and counties in spring 2011.

Those are key dates for Normal, in particular, because the town’s count includes 20,000-plus Illinois State University students who are included in the count because they spend nine months of the year in Normal. The bulk of ISU students typically move back home in early May.

That was a problem when the last full Census was done in 2000.  Forms didn’t arrive until late in the spring semester and few were returned. Census officials had to use the university’s roster to help determine the number of students on campus.

Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager in Normal, said plans already are underway to ensure that ISU students know the importance of returning the forms.

“We’re reaching out to the Student Government Association and are trying to partner with them,” Fruin said. “Any promotion that comes from students will be more successful than one coming from the local government.”

Fruin said particular attention will be given to residence halls.

The League of Women Voters of McLean County also will be helping coordinate Census promotion in the county, Fruin said.

Jill Henrikesn, partnership specialist with the Chicago Regional Census Center, recently told the McLean County Board that information gathered in the Census is protected by law and is strictly confidential. It is illegal for the Census Bureau or its employees to share the information with any other government agency, including the Internal Revenue Service, FBI, U.S. Immigration — or even the president himself.

The slogan for Census 2010 is “It’s in Our Hands.” For more information, visit www.census.gov.