SLM Corp (SLM)

Item 2.     Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Through this discussion and analysis, we intend to provide the reader with some narrative context for how our management views our consolidated financial statements, additional context within which to assess our operating results, and information on the quality and variability of our earnings, liquidity, and cash flows.

The following information should be read in connection with SLM Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 19, 2026) (the “2025 Form 10-K”), and subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Definitions for capitalized terms used in this report not defined herein can be found in the 2025 Form 10-K.

References in this Form 10-Q to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Sallie Mae,” “SLM,” and the “Company” refer to SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries, except as otherwise indicated or unless the context otherwise requires.

This report contains “forward-looking statements” and information based on management’s current expectations as of the date of this report. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs, opinions, expectations, and/or statements that assume or are dependent upon future events, are forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, the strategies, goals, and assumptions of the Company; the Company’s expectation and ability to execute loan sales (including sales under the Company’s strategic partnership) and share repurchases; the Company’s expectation and ability to pay a quarterly cash dividend on the Company’s common stock in the future, subject to approval of the Board of Directors; the Company’s 2026 guidance; the Company’s three-year horizon outlook; the Company’s credit outlook; the impact of acquisitions the Company has made or may make in the future; the Company’s projections regarding originations, net charge-offs, non-interest expenses, earnings, balance sheet position, and other metrics; any estimates related to accounting standard changes; and any estimates related to the impact of changes in credit administration practices, including the results of simulations or other behavioral observations.

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the Company’s control, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be as anticipated by management. The Company cautions readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, implied by, or projected in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among others, the risks and uncertainties set forth in Item 1A., “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in the Company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC; increases in financing costs; limits on liquidity; increases in costs associated with compliance with laws and regulations; failure to comply with consumer protection, banking, and other laws or regulations; changes in laws, regulations, and supervisory expectations, especially in light of the goals of the current federal administration; the ability to timely develop new products and services and the acceptance of those products and services by potential and existing customers; changes in accounting standards and related changes in significant accounting estimates, including those regarding the measurement of the Company’s allowance for credit losses and the related provision expense; any adverse outcomes in significant litigation to which the Company is a party; credit risk associated with the Company’s exposure to third parties, including counterparties to the Company’s derivative transactions; the effectiveness of the Company’s risk management framework and quantitative models; changes in the terms of education loans and the educational credit marketplace (including changes resulting from new laws and the implementation of existing laws); and changes in the demand for the Company’s deposit products, including changes caused by new or emerging market entrants or technologies. The Company could also be affected by, among other things, changes in funding costs and availability; reductions to credit ratings; cybersecurity incidents, cyberattacks, risks related to artificial intelligence (“AI”), and other failures or breaches of operating systems or infrastructure, including those of third-party vendors; the societal, demographic, business, and legislative/regulatory impacts of pandemics, other public health crises, severe weather events, and/or natural disasters; damage to reputation; risks associated with restructuring initiatives, including failures to successfully implement cost-cutting programs and the adverse effects of such initiatives on the business; changes in the demand for higher education, educational financing, or financing preferences of lenders, educational institutions, students, and their families, including changes to the amount or availability of funding that educational institutions, students, or their families receive from government sources; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the student lending business and financial institutions generally; changes in banking rules and regulations, including increased capital requirements; increased competition from banks and other consumer lenders; changes in customer creditworthiness; changes in the general interest rate environment, including the rate relationships among relevant money-market instruments and those of earning assets versus funding arrangements; rates of prepayments on loans owned by the Company; and changes in general economic or macroeconomic conditions, including, but not limited to, changes due to inflation, stagflation, recession, shifts in the labor market, and changes to government policies or initiatives, such as tariffs, trade wars, wars, immigration, and student visa policies, which could negatively impact consumer or business sentiment, demand for higher education, demand for student loans, financial and business results and/or modeling, and the ability to successfully effectuate any

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acquisitions, strategic partnerships, or initiatives. The preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements also requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions, including estimates and assumptions about future events. These estimates or assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

All forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-Q are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors, risks, and uncertainties set forth in the foregoing cautionary statements, and are made only as of the date of this report. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update, supplement, or revise any forward-looking statements or estimates to conform to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations, nor to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date on which such statements were made. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or estimates discussed herein.

Selected Financial Information and Ratios

Overview

The following discussion and analysis presents a review of our business and operations as of and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026.

Strategic Imperatives

To further focus our business and increase stockholder value, we continue to advance our strategic imperatives. Our primary focus is driving innovation to maximize the sustainable growth and profitability of our core private student loan business. Additionally, we aim to accelerate the growth of new lines of business to attract more customers requiring our products and services. We are also focused on building the data infrastructure, technology, and talent required to compete in a digital world. We seek to create a customer-centric brand as an education solutions company that supports students and families through their higher education journey. We are focused on driving greater internal commitment to our mission, brand, and strategy, while we evolve our structure and risk capabilities to support our core private student loan business and emerging new businesses.

Key Financial Measures

Our operating results are primarily driven by net interest income from our Private Education Loan portfolio, gains and losses on loan sales, provision expense for credit losses, and operating expenses. The growth of our business and the strength of our financial condition are primarily driven by our ability to achieve our annual Private Education Loan origination goals while sustaining credit quality and maintaining cost-efficient funding sources to support our originations.

A brief summary of our key financial measures (net interest income and net interest margin; loan sales and secured financings; allowance for credit losses; charge-offs and delinquencies; operating expenses; Private Education Loan originations; and funding sources) can be found in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our 2025 Form 10-K.

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Results of Operations

We present the results of operations below on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP.

GAAP Consolidated Statements of Income (Unaudited)

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Item 7.     Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis also contains forward-looking statements and should be read in conjunction with the disclosures and information contained in “Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements” and Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Through this discussion and analysis, we intend to provide the reader with some narrative context for how our management views our consolidated financial statements, additional context within which to assess our operating results, and information on the quality and variability of our earnings, liquidity, and cash flows.

Overview

The following discussion and analysis presents a review of our business and operations as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Changes to Federal Student Loan Programs

On July 4, 2025, H.R.1 (“H.R.1”) was enacted into law. H.R.1 implements significant reforms to the federal student loan program, including:

•Limiting Parent PLUS loans to $20,000 per student, per year, with an aggregate, per student limit of $65,000;

•Eliminating Graduate PLUS loans, which previously allowed graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance; and

•Limiting the amount graduate students can borrow to $20,500 per year with a $100,000 lifetime limit, and the amount professional graduate students can borrow to $50,000 per year with a $200,000 lifetime limit through the Unsubsidized Stafford loan program (these amounts are in addition to the amount borrowed for undergraduate education).

All federal student loan program changes are to be effective for new borrowers beginning July 1, 2026, and will not apply to borrowers who begin borrowing prior to that date.

We anticipate that these changes to the federal student loan program will present opportunities for a gradual and positive impact on our overall Private Student Loan originations volume in the coming years.

As we continue the near-term planning, growth, and scaling of our origination expansion initiative and our strategic partnership funding model, we may see trends or uncertainties from increased marketing, technology, infrastructure, and operational costs, which may result in margin and/or expense pressures. These expected investments are necessary to support the execution of these new initiatives, which address anticipated increases in demand for Private Education Loans and related financial products (particularly in light of recent changes to federal higher education funding).

Strategic Imperatives

To further focus our business and increase stockholder value, we continue to advance our strategic imperatives. Our primary focus is driving innovation to maximize the sustainable growth and profitability of our core private student loan business. Additionally, we aim to accelerate the growth of new lines of business to attract more customers requiring our products and services. We are also focused on building the data infrastructure, technology, and talent required to compete in a digital world. We seek to create a customer-centric brand as an education solutions company that supports students and families through their higher education journey. We are focused on driving greater internal commitment to our mission, brand, and strategy, while we evolve our structure and risk capabilities to support our core private student loan business and emerging new businesses.

Key Financial Measures

Set forth below are brief summaries of our key financial measures. Our operating results are primarily driven by net interest income from our Private Education Loan portfolio, gains and losses on loan sales, provision expense for credit losses, and operating expenses. The growth of our business and the strength of our financial condition are primarily driven

2025 Form 10-K — SLM CORPORATION 47

by our ability to achieve our annual Private Education Loan origination goals while sustaining credit quality and maintaining cost-efficient funding sources to support our originations.

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Most of our earnings are generated from the interest income earned on assets in our education loan portfolios, net of the interest expense we pay on the funding for those loans. We report these earnings as net interest income. The majority of our interest income comes from our Private Education Loan portfolio.

We also often refer to the net interest margin, which is the net interest yield earned on our interest-earning assets less the rate paid on our related interest-bearing liabilities. As interest rates change, changes in the cost of our interest-bearing liabilities tend to lag slightly compared to changes in the yields on our interest-earning assets, which could impact our net interest margin in any given period.

Loan Sales and Secured Financings

We may sell loans to third parties through whole loan sales, including loans sold to strategic partners, securitizations, or other similar transactions. We typically retain servicing of loans subsequent to their sale and earn revenue for this servicing at prevailing market rates for such services and also earn fee revenue for program management services for loans sold to strategic partners. Selling loans removes the loan assets from our balance sheet and helps us manage our asset growth, capital, and liquidity needs. Alternatively, we may use loans as collateral in connection with the creation of asset-backed securitizations or secured funding facilities structured as financings. These types of transactions may provide us long-term financing, but they do not remove loan assets from our balance sheet, nor do they generate gains on sales of loans, net. Consequently, our operating results may be significantly affected by whether we choose to sell loans and recognize current gains on sale or continue to hold or finance loans, thereby retaining some or all the net interest income from those loans. In 2025, we recognized $369 million in gains from the sale of approximately $4.95 billion of our Private Education Loans, including $4.53 billion of principal and $422 million in capitalized interest, to unaffiliated third parties.

For additional information regarding these transactions, see Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 5, “Loans Held for Investment” and Note 11, “Borrowings — Unconsolidated Funding Vehicles” in this Form 10-K.

During the fourth quarter of 2025, we transferred $933 million from loans held for investment to loans held for sale as we intended to sell the loans to a leading global investment firm (the “Strategic Partner”). In January 2026, we sold the loans to the Strategic Partner. The transaction qualified for sale treatment and removed the balance of the loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date. For additional information, see Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 6, “Loans Held for Sale”.

During the third quarter of 2024, we transferred our remaining FFELP Loan portfolio to loans held for sale and subsequently sold the FFELP Loan portfolio to an unaffiliated third party in the fourth quarter of 2024. For additional information, see Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 5, “Loans Held for Investment”.

Allowance for Credit Losses

Management estimates and maintains an allowance for credit losses for the lifetime expected credit losses on loans in our portfolios, as well as for future loan commitments, at the reporting date. See “ — Critical Accounting Estimates — Allowance for Credit Losses” in this Item 7. Allowances for credit losses are an important indicator of management’s perspective on the future performance of a loan portfolio. Each quarter, management makes an adjustment to the allowance for credit losses to reflect its most up-to-date estimate of future losses by recording a charge against quarterly revenues known as provision expense. As they occur, actual loan charge-offs and recoveries are then charged or credited, respectively, against the allowance for credit losses rather than against earnings.

The allowance for credit losses and provision expense rise in periods of high loan origination, when future charge-offs are expected to increase, and fall when future charge-offs are expected to decline. We bear the full credit exposure on our Private Education Loans. Losses on our Private Education Loans are affected by risk characteristics such as loan status (in-school, grace, forbearance, repayment, and delinquency), loan seasoning (number of months in active repayment), underwriting criteria (e.g., credit scores), presence of a cosigner, servicing and collections practices, and the current economic environment. See Item 1A “Risk Factors — CREDIT RISK — Defaults on our loans could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and/or cash flows” for additional information. Losses typically emerge once a borrower separates from school and enters full principal and interest repayment after the borrower’s grace

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period (six months, typically) ends. As a larger proportion of our Private Education Loan portfolio enters full principal and interest repayment in the coming years, we would expect the dollar amount of charge-offs to increase.

Prior to the sale of our remaining FFELP Loan portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2024, our allowance for credit losses for FFELP Loans and related periodic provision expense was small because we generally bore a maximum of three percent loss exposure due to the federal guarantee on such loans. We maintained an allowance for credit losses for our FFELP Loans at a level sufficient to cover lifetime expected credit losses.

Charge-Offs and Delinquencies

Delinquencies are another important indicator of potential future credit performance. Private Education Loans are charged off at the end of the month in which they reach 120 days delinquent or otherwise when the loans are classified as a loss by us or our regulator. Charge-off data provides relevant information with respect to the actual performance of a loan portfolio over time. Management focuses on delinquencies as well as the progression of loans from early to late stage delinquency as a key metric in estimating the allowance for credit losses and tailoring its future collections strategies. We sell a segment of defaulted loans immediately after charge-off, and use in-house collectors and third-party collectors to collect on retained defaulted loans.

As part of our new strategic partnership funding model, we plan to sell newly originated loans for the first time. This shift to selling younger loans is expected to change the composition of our loans in repayment portfolio (which does not include loans held for sale), as loans sold will be younger at the point of sale than in prior periods. As a result, we expect to see increases to our credit metrics that are calculated as percentages using "loans in repayment" as the denominator, including but not limited to, net charge-offs as a percentage of average loans in repayment and delinquencies as a percentage of loans in repayment.

Operating Expenses

The cost of operating our business directly affects our profitability. We strive to manage growth in our business in a prudent fashion by focusing on investments to improve efficiency and while capturing anticipated growth opportunities, including our origination expansion initiative and other initiatives. We monitor and report internally various metrics, including cost to acquire and cost to service our loans (which include both owned and serviced loans), among others. We also monitor and report our efficiency ratio, which is calculated as total non-interest expenses divided by the

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