Police have found skeletal remains in their search for a university student who vanished during a late-night walk home in the NSW Hunter region.

Detectives say it is too early to say whether the remains, found in scrubland in the Maitland suburb of Lorn about 10.15am on Wednesday, are those of 21-year-old Pip Manley, who disappeared in the early hours of November 22.

Missing: Pip Manley.

Police have set up a crime scene and forensic officers are examining the area of bushland near Belmore Road, where Mr Manley was believed to have walked on the night he disappeared.

"Detectives are treating the incident as suspicious and pursuing numerous lines of inquiry," police said in a statement.