Earnings per Common Share

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Basic earnings per common share (“EPS”) are calculated using the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during each period. A reconciliation of the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted EPS calculations follows.



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2015		2014		2015		2014
Numerator:
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation	$	45,724	$	82,926	$	184,439	$	174,502
Preferred stock dividends	4,913		4,850		14,606		8,078
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	40,811	$	78,076	$	169,833	$	166,424
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	426,019		423,079		425,384		424,187
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	6,528		8,525		7,147		8,137
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	432,547		431,604		432,531		432,324

Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.10	$	0.18	$	0.40	$	0.39

Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.09	$	0.18	$	0.39	$	0.38

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⁽¹⁾	Includes the potential dilutive effect of additional common shares that are issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, and the outstanding commitment to issue shares under the ESPP, determined by the treasury stock method.


⁽²⁾	For the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, securities covering approximately 2 million and 3 million shares, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, securities covering approximately 2 million and 3 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.