My husband lost his job and we do not think he will get another job making as much money as he was.He has a 401k that we could cash out and pay off our debt. If we do that, we will be able to afford the necessities.Would it be better to take out a student loan t pay off this debt?Or cash in the 401k?

You will lose about half the 401K to taxes & penalties & not have anything for retirement. Any other choice is better, student loans, second jobs, moving to cheaper place, cutting services even bankruptcy might be better depending on the amount.
Roll his 401K to a IRA so if u have times so desperate u need to take some u can take only the amount u r short & the taxes & penalties on it.
When the market is down would also mean selling low so getting much less than it was worth before & will be again.

Seek out a professional financial counselor for help on this. There are more variables to be considered, and this is too important to you to let an anonymous forum guide you.

This is a tough question. l do not think this is a good time to accumulate more debt. On the other hand, a 401k is designed for ur retirement. You will lose a lot of interest by cashing it out. Rather than taking on more debt or cashing out ur retirement it might be best to find another job. If necessary he may need to find 2 jobs to make ends meet. Perhaps u could also find a job if u r not currently working. There r no really easy with the economy the way it is right now. You will most assuredly lose money if u cash out ur 401k.

You can not get a student loan for anything other than school, so that is out. And regardless of whether u r concerrned about having funds for ur retirement or not, cashing out a 401k is a terrrible terrible idea - in addition to the fees & charges, that will immediately eat alot of the money, the total will be included as part of ur income for the year, & u will be hit with a shocking tax bill when u file. So u will be adding to ur debt, not reducing it, & owing the IRS is not a situation in which u want to find yourself. l suggest u not even consider this as an option & do what is necessary to earn the income u need, whether it is one job or two, .