CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN EQUITY (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2020
Declared dividends per common share attributable to SLM Corporation (in dollars per share)	$ 0.03	$ 0.03
Series B Preferred Stock
Preferred stock dividend (in dollars per share)	$ 0.48	$ 0.87

Aggregate dividends declared during the period for each share of common stock outstanding.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120397183&loc=d3e187085-122770

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration