Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Schedule of earnings per share, basic and diluted

A reconciliation of the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted EPS calculations follows.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2016		2015
Numerator:
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation	$	65,915	$	47,699
Preferred stock dividends	5,139		4,823
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	60,776	$	42,876
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	427,111		424,428
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") (1)(2)	3,792		7,874
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	430,903		432,302
Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.14	$	0.10
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.14	$	0.10

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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 March 31, 2016 and 2015, securities covering approximately 6 million and 2 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.