Ayanna Ruiz lives confined in the four walls of her 700-square-foot efficiency in West End. She was forced to downsize to a smaller space after one of her roommates moved out from their apartment in Doral. Her goal is to move to Orlando, where she believes money will stretch further due to lower rent prices.
“I had considered moving to Tennessee at the beginning of the year when I was looking for a new home,” said Ruiz. “For the place that I have right now I would be paying way less than what I am here.”
Ruiz is trying to balance her graduate career and full-time job without falling behind academically and financially. She is studying to get her master’s degree in marketing at Florida International University while working as a social media coordinator at the University of Miami. She earns $22 an hour, but she says it’s not enough when you consider bills, groceries and gas…