When President Trump rolled out his budget proposal in May, itincluded massive cuts to federal student loan programs.

Now that piece of paper seems so three months ago. In apolitically divided nation, sometimes the best bet is on nothinghappening.

But even if no changes occur in the ultimate budget Congressmust pass this fall, college costs will continue to rise andstudents and their families will be struggling to pay the higherout-of-pocket costs.

Sallie Mae and other banks are gearing up for a bigger role, andso too is CU Student Choice, the largest CUSO, with members holdinghalf of the $4 billion in private student loans on credit unionbooks in March. Another CUSO, CU Campus Resources of Madison, Wis.,was acquired by Thrivent Federal Credit Union in May.

Those involved in education finance are assessing the politicalscene, weighing last year's election results, discussions aboutcuts at the U.S. Department of Education and budget proposals fromTrump and House Republicans.

“We expect there will be major changes coming. We don't knowwhat that means or what that will look like,” Scott Patterson, CUStudent Choice's president/CEO, said.

“Our assumption within the CUSO here is that the member need foralternative financing solutions will increase,” Patterson said.“The need to help members in this area has never been greater.”

Sallie Mae Chairman/CEO Raymond J. Quinlan told investors duringa conference call in July that “Washington has been clear as mudabout what will happen in our industry.”

“Because much of the discussion has been around various programsthat may or may not be discontinued, especially the Plus programs,we have done quite a bit of work on strengthening ourinfrastructure, eliminating bottlenecks, with the idea that werethe federal programs to change in such a way that our volume wouldincrease significantly, we would be prepared,” Quinlan said.

There are signs others in the private student loan market arestirring.

Wells Fargo's private student loan portfolio totaled $12.2billion on June 30. Citizens Financial Group started its privatestudent lending business in 2009 and has since expanded to partnerwith nearly 2,500 not-for-profit higher education schools in all 50states. The Providence, R.I., bank held $7.7 billion in privatestudent loans as of June 30, up 40% from a year ago.

In February, Social Finance Inc. bought Zenbanx, a 36-employeeFinTech company in Wilmington, Del., and announced plans in June toadd 400 call center and internet technology workers there by theend of 2018. The San Francisco-based SoFi originated $8 billion inloans last year from mortgages to personal loans, but a major focusof its model is forming relationships with companies to offerstudent loan payments as a bonus to lure millennial employees.

Thrivent ($523.4 million in assets, 50,182 members) beganoffering private student loans in 2015. As of June 30, theAppleton, Wis., credit union had $22.4 million worth of studentloans, more than double its portfolio a year earlier and accountingfor 6.7% of total loans.

Right now, credit unions have only a tiny role. The nation'sentire student loan portfolio was $1.4 trillion in public andprivate loans on June 30, up 6.2% from a year earlier, according tothe Federal Reserve's consumer lending report.

MeasureOne, Inc., a San Francisco consulting company, said thenation's private student loan balance was nearly $64 billion inMarch, up 0.5% from a year earlier. Undergraduate loans, whichaccounted for 87% of the total, rose 0.7%, but graduate loans fell4.1%.

Not only is the $4 billion held by credit unions small incomparison with industry leader Sallie Mae, a bank with $15 billionin private student loans on June 30, the total amount is smallwithin credit unions.

Student loans made up only 0.4% of the loan portfolio of allcredit unions in March, the same rate as December 2015 and up from0.3% at the end of 2011. Those numbers include the 6,519 creditunions that did no private student loans.

Even among the 810 credit unions doing atleast some student loans, they were still only 0.6% of itsportfolios in December 2011, and have remained at 1% since2015.

But like many credit union segments, it's a growth opportunity.Credit unions have been increasing loans at a rate higher than thenational average.

Private student loans at credit unions grew an average of 34%per year from 2011 to 2015, and 9% in 2016.

So far this year, credit unions still seem to be making gains,according to second-quarter call reports recently released by theNCUA.

The 10 largest student lenders held just over $1 billion inprivate student loans, up 23% from a year ago.

These credit unions range in size from the nation's largest,Navy Federal ($82 billion in assets, 7.2 million members), to MITFederal Credit Union in Cambridge, Mass. ($541.8 million in assets,35,424 members).

Private student loans account for 0.35% of total loans at NavyFederal, but 21.8% of loans at MIT FCU, the fourth-largest creditunion student lender, and an affiliate of CU Student Choice.

Private student loans are designed to fill the remainder leftafter college costs, federal loans, grants, scholarships andsavings.

The formula has a lot of moving parts but some of the majordirections can be reliably guessed: College costs will risesignificantly each year and federal help will stay the same ordecline. As a result, the remainder will be rising for moststudents.

“What keeps mom and dad up at night is 'How do I finance therest?'” Patterson said. “That gap keeps getting bigger eachyear.”

More students are borrowing for college, and their debt burdenscontinue to rise, even after adjusting for inflation, according toThe College Board's most recent Trends in Student Aid report.

The average borrower left school in 2014-2015 with $28,100 instudent loans, public and private. Ten years earlier, the cost was$23,800 in 2015 dollars.

The percentage of students borrowing for college rose from 58%of those graduating in 2004-05 with a bachelor's degree to 61% ofthose graduating in 2014-2015.

In the 2015-2016 school year, banks and creditunions originated $9.9 billion in private student loans, up from$9.1 billion a year earlier. The 2015-2016 amount included $4.5billion by Sallie Mae, the former federal government enterprisethat went private in 2004.

Sallie Mae, based in Newark, Del., has been watching the trendof parents taking an increasing role as direct borrowers for theirchildren's education. It's projecting originations will rise to$4.9 billion this year.

In Sallie Mae's most recent annual report, “How America Pays forCollege,” the lender's surveys found 42% of families borrowed tohelp pay for school in 2016-17. About 14% used funds borrowed bythe parent and 36% used funds borrowed by the student.

“The Federal PLUS Loan continued to be the most commonly usedparent loan resource — used by 9% of all families — and accountedfor the highest average amount borrowed ($10,226), though thatamount was about $1,100 lower than the previous year,” the reportsaid.

Among student borrowers, 33% used federal student loans, and 10%used private student loans. The average federal loan debt was$8,835, up by almost $1,500 from a year earlier. The averageprivate loan was $10,707, up by $1,700.

Even with the higher costs, Patterson said people who graduatefrom a four-year college typically have higher incomes and lowerrisk of unemployment than those without one. Also, they have abetter chance of being able to pursue a career that providesfulfilling work.

“Having a college degree is one of the best investments a personcan make,” he said.

But the choices are emotional, and the students — and parents —run the risk of taking on more debt than they are likely to be ableto repay, or debt that will hold them back for years.

The task for credit unions and their CUSOs is to help provideadvice that is sound, and loans that are responsible, Pattersonsaid.

“Are you making a loan that the member can pay back?”