There are a lot of different factors that go into whether owning or renting is better financially. Mortgage rates are low right now, which does side in favor of owning, but here's my anecdotal cautionary tale.
This is *not* apples to apples, but I moved from a 600 sq ft 1BR apartment into a 3BR 2.5BA house. I have rented out my extra rooms for most of my 7 years of stay. If you ignore the money put into principal/equity, the interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs all add up so that, after all this time, even after bringing in a lot of rental income, I'm barely better off financially then I was with that apartment. In my case, that's because I've already had to replace the HVAC, a water heater and the roof. I haven't budgeted for repaving the driveway, but it needs it!
The point, though, is that it's possible owning will be less wise financially then renting. Even if it's not, think about this - I currently drive 15+ miles (30-40 minutes) one way to work. There are lovely apartments less than 5 minutes from the office. If I had not purchased, I'd certainly have moved to a much closer apartment by now. Homes can be expensive to maintain (and time-consuming), and they are the least liquid of assets. It's very difficult to sell them. Just compare them to any other investment. Plus, note that I've had to live with roommates all this time. If I had lived solo like I did in my apartment, it would have been much worse, financially.
I'm not saying it's wrong for you, but it's not an easy answer.
Now what's the rate on your student loan debt?