Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 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				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2016		2015		2016		2015
Numerator:
Net income	$	56,965	$	45,724	$	180,085	$	184,439
Preferred stock dividends	5,316		4,913		15,698		14,606
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	51,649	$	40,811	$	164,387	$	169,833
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	428,077		426,019		427,711		425,384
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	5,446		6,528		4,368		7,147
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	433,523		432,547		432,079		432,531
Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.12	$	0.10	$	0.38	$	0.40
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.12	$	0.09	$	0.38	$	0.39

________________             

⁽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, 2016 and 2015, securities covering approximately 1 million and 2 million shares, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, securities covering approximately 1 million and 2 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.