Earnings (Loss) per Common Share (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2026

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 September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)	2026		2025		2026		2025
Numerator:
Net income (loss)	$	(32,261)	$	135,850	$	334,218	$	511,662
Preferred stock dividends	3,643		3,994		10,779		11,922
Net income (loss) attributable to SLM Corporation common stock	$	(35,904)	$	131,856	$	323,439	$	499,740
Denominator:
Weighted average shares used to compute basic EPS	185,566		207,144		189,831		209,023
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock units, dividend equivalent units, and Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) (1)(2)	—		3,463		2,280		3,899

Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS	185,566		210,607		192,111		212,922

Basic earnings (loss) per common share	$	(0.19)	$	0.64	$	1.70	$	2.39

Diluted earnings (loss) per common share	$	(0.19)	$	0.63	$	1.68	$	2.35

(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, dividend equivalent 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, 2026 and 2025, securities covering approximately 5 million shares and less than 1 million shares, respectively, and for both the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025, securities covering less than 1 million shares were outstanding but not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because they were anti-dilutive.