Humber will charge students a $150 late fee if they don’t register for the Winter 2026 semester on time.
This email announcement from the registrar’s office was sent to students on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Humber Media Relations and External Communication Specialist, Chad Derrick, said the decision to reinstate late registration fees was made because of increased administrative resources needed for manual registration and to make sure class schedules were processed in time.
Humber used to charge a flat-rate late fee for overdue payments, which was removed temporarily in 2021 due to COVID-19.
Don Rafael Carlos Ruiz, an international student studying Mechanical Technique – Millwright, said he feels he is being cheated as he pays three times more than domestic students.
“I pay via my credit card back home, so I get additional charges for it,” he said. “They have the guts to charge me an additional $150. It’s money-making, it’s just business.”
First-year mechanical engineering student, Manoush Faisal, said she is confused by why she needs to pay for the late fee as a diploma student, but it doesn’t apply to some bachelor’s degree students.
“It’s weird. If you’re gonna give it to everyone, why is it only certain degrees and certain degrees don’t? So I think that’s very hypocritical,” Faisal said. “If you’re trying to get us to pay on time, why is an exception to the Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering?”
Derrick said in an email that the exemptions have been made for programs that traditionally register later, due to testing or clinical placement assignments, which must be completed before registration.
Some students said they understand the late fee.
Third-year sport management student Bryan Beserra said it's easy to find classes unless they’re block-based or they have to choose their own, since some students have to reach out to their coordinator when they can’t find the class on the registration portal.
Beserra thinks $150 is excessive for a late fee, but at the same time, it’s the students’ responsibility to register their classes on time.
But Faisal said the late fee was a surprise.
“It can definitely be a barrier for a lot of people applying and trying to continue their studies. Because an extra $150 on top of all the fees is not something people expected in the first place,” Faisal said.
“Unless they can tell us exactly what it’s going to be, why they need it in particular. It’s an incentive to pay on time,” she said, asking for more transparency from Humber.
Derrick said the late fee will not be applied to 2025/26 first-year students.
Winter registration runs from Nov. 17 to 20.
