Earnings per Common Share (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 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   June 30,				Six Months Ended   June 30,
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)	2022		2021		2022		2021
Numerator:
Net income	$	342,073	$	140,201	$	470,885	$	781,408
Preferred stock dividends	1,757		1,192		3,032		2,393
Net income attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	340,316	$	139,009	$	467,853	$	779,015
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	261,333		312,183		269,112		336,478
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)	2,789		4,936		3,231		5,066
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	264,122		317,119		272,343		341,544
Basic earnings per common share	$	1.30	$	0.45	$	1.74	$	2.32
Diluted earnings per common share	$	1.29	$	0.44	$	1.72	$	2.28

(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 June 30, 2022 and 2021, securities covering approximately 2 million shares and 1 million shares, respectively, and for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, securities covering approximately 1 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.