With the 2017 spring semester well underway, some professors may have already learned every one of their students’ names. Remembering the names of their students is an attainable goal for the Pitt-Johnstown professors.

The names of some students, however might appear on the professor’s class roster without these students ever attending a single class.

These students are referred to as “ghost students,” and administrators are continuing to look for them.

Pitt-Johnstown Registrar Christian Stumpf has been searching for these students as early as last September.

“Every semester, we check for these students; there is a handful every semester,” Stumpf said.

Stumpf defined a ghost student as a student who might make a schedule in March and decide over summer to not attend a class.

Once professors report the name of a ghost student to the registrar, the student will be unenrolled from that professor’s class. This would then open the class availability for other students on a waiting list.

Communication professor Diane Nicodemus said nonattending ghost students have not been a problem in her class.