My student loans are relatively small but I will likely be paying them off over the full 20 year consolidation term. My first priority is funding my retirement. I want to get the biggest nest egg I can right now while I am young. If you can get a ~$250k nest egg by the time you are 30 (and it looks like I will be close) that will turn into ~$8,000,000 at age 65.
After that nest egg is funded it doesn't matter that my student loans are sitting there accruing interest at a whopping 4%. I can work 2 days a week and never save another penny if I want. Of course that's not what I'll do, but I COULD.
I know it seems counterintuitive to save money when you still have so much debt, but in the long term you come out sooo much better.