Student loans are thefastest-rising form of consumer debt in the U.S. and likely willremain that way for years to come. A new white paper from theFilene Research Institute wants to help credit unions grab agreater slice of what has become a $1.2 trillion pie.

In a market overwhelmingly dominated by government-guaranteedloans, private student loans offered by banks and credit unionscomprise just 8% of market share, with six banks capturing themajority of the private loan market, according to study authorMatthew Lieber, a political science instructor at Madison Collegein Madison, Wis.

Only one in 10 credit unions held any student loans in 2013,totaling $2.6 billion across 643 institutions, Lieber wrote in“Helping Members Navigate College Costs,” released on May 4. Altogether, credit unions accounted for just 3% of the $92.6billion in total private student loans outstanding and 0.2% of allU.S. student loans, the study said.