Should I pay part of my student loans? Serious.

I have about 26k in SL debt. The rest of my financial and personal life is in amazing shape, I think. 15% to 401k, 7k to Roth, saving monthly and consistently, taking 1-2 vacations per year, making 130k/yr, and handling money well for the most part.

I have an extra $4,500 and I just paid $1,500 yesterday towards the loans. The question is whether to pay 3k towards them now that I can attack the principal.

The balance hasn't been updated after the 1.5k so that might end up at 24ish thousand or a little more. I don't have other debt but I also feel like student loan debt is last priority and I don't want to feel like I'm throwing this money away. I could definitely use it to fund Roth 2024 where I contributed $150 last year. This year I think i can do $7k through my normal monthly savings.

My problem is that I have a very small emergency fund of $5k and I'd love to have it build to 6 months of expenses and I'm also saving with my wife for a personal primary home. We rent an apt now. I get nervous with little cash because I also have a rental which just breaks even each month but I fear not having enough cash for the unexpected.

Thoughts?