Most student loan rates are pretty low, at least mine are so financially it makes more sense to bank the money away into a 401K especially if it's a decent match. Hard to say no to free money, but Silver doesn't have that dilemma as the 401K is nil. Then you need to ask yourself is being gone from home for possibly 216-240 days of a year worth it? What affect does this have on the industry you can bet other places will look into it.