Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

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,
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)	2022		2021
Numerator:
Net income	$	128,812	$	641,207
Preferred stock dividends	1,275		1,201
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	127,537	$	640,006
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	276,977		361,042
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock units, and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	3,677		5,198
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	280,654		366,240
Basic earnings per common share	$	0.46	$	1.77
Diluted earnings per common share	$	0.45	$	1.75

(1)     Includes the potential dilutive effect of additional common shares that are issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance 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, 2022 and 2021, securities covering approximately 3 million shares and 1 million shares, respectively, were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.