Thanks everyone for the resources! This statement though has brought up another question.
Debt repayment is VERY important, but get that match first. Contributing to pre-tax retirement accounts like the 401k also helps to reduce your taxable income so you might just owe less to the IRS as you start upping the contributions, so get on that as soon as you can - free money match, investments for your future, and less taxes paid out... it's a win x 3.
We were thinking that debt repayment is such a crisis that we should put every penny we can scrounge toward it. Not contributing to the 401K right now gives us an extra $200 a month (after taxes) to put toward debt and thus saving on the interest also. Am I right in interpreting the above comment to mean we are not thinking correctly on this?
Yes, you're not thinking correctly. Paying off debt gives you an X% annual return, where X < 10% for most kinds of debt and X < 30% even for ridiculous things like defaulted credit cards. In contrast, contributing to the 401K up to the match gives you a 60% instant return, which blows everything else out of the water.
I mean, if you're in the kind of debt where Vinnie's gonna bust your kneecaps if you don't pay, or if you're paying 300% on a payday loan or something, then by all means, get rid of that first. Otherwise, getting the 401K match wins.