diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/views.py b/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
index 071a41a834..d9ead9c6fb 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/views.py
@@ -693,9 +693,15 @@ def create_exam_registration(request, post_override=None):
     course_id = post_vars['course_id']
     course = (course_from_id(course_id))  # assume it will be found....
 
+    # make sure that any demographic data values received from the page have been stripped.
+    # Whitespace is not an acceptable response for any of these values
+    demographic_data = {}
+    for fieldname in TestCenterUser.user_provided_fields():
+        if fieldname in post_vars:
+            demographic_data[fieldname] = (post_vars[fieldname]).strip()
     try:
         testcenter_user = TestCenterUser.objects.get(user=user)
-        needs_updating = testcenter_user.needs_update(post_vars)
+        needs_updating = testcenter_user.needs_update(demographic_data)
         log.info("User {0} enrolled in course {1} {2}updating demographic info for exam registration".format(user.username, course_id, "" if needs_updating else "not "))
     except TestCenterUser.DoesNotExist:
         # do additional initialization here: