Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

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)	2017		2016
Numerator:
Net income	$	94,943	$	65,915
Preferred stock dividends	5,575		5,139
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	89,368	$	60,776
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	429,891		427,111
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	8,844		3,792
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	438,735		430,903
Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.21	$	0.14
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.20	$	0.14

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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, 2017 and 2016, securities covering approximately0 and 6 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.