Student loans, pay them off before investing?

[Christian Albright]

Hi BP,

I have about 20k in student loans that I’m due to start paying in September of 2020. I plan on having a job that pays ~60k a year by then. I have about 11k in savings and want to time it so I can start house hacking right away. Does it make sense to do this or should I pay off all my loans first to lower the amount of money coming out of my paycheck each month. It might help to know that I do paying off the loan amount asap (within 18 months of starting payments). Any advice is appreciated!