Segment Reporting (Details 1) (USD $)	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Asset information for the Company's Consumer Lending business segment
Private Education Loans, net	$ 35,753,327,000	$ 35,655,724,000
Cash and investments	6,041,000,000	5,963,000,000
Other	4,418,000,000	3,911,000,000
Total assets	153,094,000,000	158,523,000,000
Consumer Lending [Member]
Asset information for the Company's Consumer Lending business segment
Private Education Loans, net	35,753,000,000	35,656,000,000
Cash and investments	2,794,000,000	3,372,000,000
Other	4,506,000,000	4,004,000,000
Total assets	$ 43,053,000,000	$ 43,032,000,000