The parents of missing Burwood East man Tej Chitnis only recently discovered that their son had not attended classes at Deakin University for up to two years before he vanished on April 27.

It is understood that detectives investigating the disappearance of the popular 21-year-old had found he had been absent from a health science course at Deakin's Geelong campus since 2014.

Tej is believed to have planned to study medicine at Monash University, but had failed to graduate from Deakin and would not have been able to transfer.

It is not known how Mr Chitnis spent much of the the past two years, but his mother told SBS last week that her son had expressed uncertainty about his future.

"He told us he didn't know what to do in his life. We told him to take a break. You don't need to worry about your whole life when you are just 21," Mrs Chitnis told SBS.

Tej was last seen driving his silver VW Golf from the family's Burwood East home on April 27 at about 10am.

He failed to return home that evening for an important family dinner to celebrate his father's birthday.

The 2005 VW Golf was last spotted in Healesville, after his mobile phone was switched off at 11.26am.

Tej's bank card has not been used since and an extensive search by police and up to 70 friends and family members in Healesville and several neighbouring towns has failed to turn up any trace.

On Mothers' Day, Reva Chitnis posted a heart-breaking message to her youngest son on social media.

"You can not imagine what it does to me not knowing where you are. It is most unlike you my darling to just walk away without a word and not think what it will do to us. We love you very much and we are very worried about you," Mrs Chitnis posted on facebook.

Yesterday, a Victoria Police spokeswoman declined to comment on the search for Tej, while his family did not respond to calls from Fairfax Media.

The 21-year-old held a part-time job at Officeworks in Vermont South and played basketball with his colleagues in a weekly competition based at the State Basketball Centre in Knox.

Last week, his devastated team-mates launched a plea for his return on social media.

"Hey man, it's Theva here, we want you back at work man, we want you back at basketball, want you suited up with us buddy," said close friend Theva Kawefaretnam.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Forest Hill Police Station on 8847 3636 or triple-0.