I think the student loan route will be better in that your interest rate will be much better but yeah, definitely look at getting it paid off as quicklu as you can because the current amount on it is enough to seriously affect your financial future if you let it get out of control.

Speaking from experience when I was going thru tough times, I had a $500 credit card that took me literal years to get under control because of the poverty / interest cycle so please do everything you can to avoid this.