Barbara Farber said the parking lot is full before the stores even open. (CBC)

Customers are being squeezed out of an Ottawa shopping plaza parking lot by Algonquin College students who are parking there, says the manager of the plaza.

"We've had major complaints from our tenants that our customers who are trying to park here don't have the space here when they come," said Barbara Farber, president of Leiken group, the company that manages the College Square Plaza at Baseline Road and Woodroffe Avenue, next to the college campus.

Farber said the plaza parking lot is full before stores even open, and she suspects college faculty and students are to blame.

She added that many of the drivers have already received numerous $60 parking tickets from the city. A city bylaw bans parking on private property without the consent of the owner or occupant of the property.

"The advice that we're getting from people is that we're going to have to tow more often, which I hate to do," she said.

The parking is officially for customers only, but Algonquin College students such as Ashley McDermott say they have few other options.

500 students on parking pass waiting list

"Since I'm on the waiting list [for a parking pass] at Algonquin, I have to park at Loblaws," the first year student said as she passed through the shopping centre on the way to her car last week.

About 500 other students are also on the waiting list for an Algonquin College parking pass, which costs $400 to $600 a year.

Algonquin College's director of ancillary services, Karen Foster, acknowledged the problem and said both sides are talking.

"We understand the concerns and the pressures that they're facing," she said, adding that the college is working with them to alleviate the problem as best it can.

However, she said, enrollment at the college is increasing, boosting the demand for parking.

"We're never going to have enough parking spaces for everybody," she added.