Ssrs 2012 report paramter issue

In a production ssrs 2012, there is an option to select students at the school system based upon several parameters
that are cascading parameters prior to the student selection parameter. Basically the idea is there will be several students to select from.
However I found a way to run the report where there are no students to select from. When this occurs, the student parameter is a blank box. There is nothing for the user to select from.
Instead of having a 'blank' parameter box, is there a way to say something like there are no students to select from? If so, can you show me how to accomplish this goal? If this is not possible, would you tell me that also?

is this parameter a drop down or an input field?