Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 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				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2017		2016		2017		2016
Numerator:
Net income	$	76,371	$	56,965	$	241,931	$	180,085
Preferred stock dividends	3,028		5,316		12,577		15,698
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	73,343	$	51,649	$	229,354	$	164,387
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	431,718		428,077		430,958		427,711
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	6,701		5,446		7,464		4,368
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	438,419		433,523		438,422		432,079
Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.17	$	0.12	$	0.53	$	0.38
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.17	$	0.12	$	0.52	$	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, 2017 and 2016, securities covering approximately 0 and 1 million shares, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, securities covering approximately 0 and 1 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.