Earnings Per Common Share (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 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.

	Years Ended December 31,
(In thousands, except per share data)	2017		2016		2015
Numerator:
Net income	$	288,934	$	250,327	$	274,284
Preferred stock dividends	15,714		21,204		19,595
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	273,220	$	229,123	$	254,689
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	431,216		427,876		425,574
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	7,335		5,043		6,660
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	438,551		432,919		432,234
Basic earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.63	$	0.54	$	0.60
Diluted earnings per common share attributable to SLM Corporation	$	0.62	$	0.53	$	0.59

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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 years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, securities covering approximately 0, 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.