As familiar as the concept of student lending is, it’s also brand-new, unexplored territory for most U.S. credit unions. The student lending landscape has shifted 180 degrees in the last decade, due in part to rising education costs and in part to changes in government regulations. It used to be dominated by government-backed loans, but now there is space in the market for a great deal of private lending, too.

“Private student loans haven’t been that common until recently,” explains Mike Long, chief credit officer at $1.6 billion University of Wisconsin Credit Union<…