SLM : Investor Presentation 2021 Barclays Americas Select Franchise Virtual Conference

Barclays Americas

Select Franchise

Virtual Conference

May 18, 2021

Steve McGarry, EVP

and CFO

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The following information is current as of April 21, 2021 (unless otherwise noted) and should be read in connection with the press release of SLM Corporation (the "Company") announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 21, 2021, and subsequent reports filed with the SEC.

This Presentation contains "forward-looking" statements and information based on management's current expectations as of the date of this Presentation. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs, opinions, or expectations and statements that assume or are dependent upon future events, are forward-looking statements. This includes, but is not limited to:

statements regarding future developments surrounding COVID-19 or any other pandemic, including, without limitation, statements regarding the potential impact of COVID-19 or any other pandemic on the Company's business, results of operations, financial condition, and/or cash flows; the Company's expectation and ability to pay a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock in the future, subject to the determination by the Company's Board of Directors, and based on an evaluation of the Company's earnings, financial condition and requirements, business conditions, capital allocation determinations, and other factors, risks, and uncertainties; the Company's 2021 guidance; the Company's three-year horizon outlook; the Company's expectation and ability to execute loan sales and share repurchases; the Company's projections regarding originations, net charge-offs,non-interest expenses, earnings, balance sheet position, and other metrics; and any estimates related to accounting standard changes. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those reflected 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020 (filed with the SEC on Feb. 25, 2021) and subsequent filings with the SEC; the societal, business, and legislative/regulatory impact of pandemics and other public heath crises; 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; changes in accounting standards and the impact of related changes in significant accounting estimates, including any regarding the measurement of the Company's allowance for credit losses and the related provision expense; any adverse outcomes in any significant litigation to which the

Company or any subsidiary is a party; credit risk associated with the Company's (or any subsidiary's) exposure to third parties, including counterparties to the Company's (or any subsidiary's) derivative

transactions; and changes in the terms of education loans and the educational credit marketplace (including changes resulting from new laws and the implementation of existing laws). The Company could also be affected by, among other things: changes in its funding costs and availability; reductions to its credit ratings; cybersecurity incidents, cyberattacks, and other failures or breaches of its operating systems or infrastructure, including those of third-party vendors; damage to its reputation; risks associated with restructuring initiatives, including failures to successfully implement cost-cutting programs and the adverse effects of such initiatives on the Company's business; changes in the demand for educational financing or in financing preferences of lenders, educational institutions, students, and their families; changes in law 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; the creditworthiness of customers; 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 the loans owned by the Company and its subsidiaries; changes in general economic conditions and the Company's ability to successfully effectuate any acquisitions; and other strategic 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 Presentation are qualified by these cautionary statements and are made only as of the date of this Presentation. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to conform such statements to actual results or changes in its expectations.

The Company reports financial results on a GAAP basis and also provides certain non-GAAP "Core Earnings" performance measures. The difference between the Company's "Core Earnings" and GAAP results for the periods presented were the unrealized, mark-to-fair value gains/losses on derivative contracts (excluding current period accruals on the derivative instruments), net of tax. These are recognized in GAAP, but not in "Core Earnings" results. The Company provides "Core Earnings" because it is one of several measures management uses when making management decisions regarding the Company's performance and the allocation of corporate resources. The Company's "Core Earnings" is not a defined term within GAAP and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

For additional information, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations -'Core Earnings'" in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 for a further discussion and the "'Core Earnings' to GAAP Reconciliation" table in this Presentation for a complete reconciliation between GAAP net income and "Core Earnings".

2

Sallie Mae is an Outstanding Franchise

Sallie Mae is the market-leading brand for private education loans driven by brand recognition, rigorous underwriting methodology and industry-leading customer service.

Top ranked and highly recognized brand	2,400+
	actively managed university relationships
Industry leading and award-winning	across the U.S.
technologies
	Largest salesforce in the industry
JD Power certification of customer	Appears on 98% of preferred lender lists
service1

Well funded with sufficient liquidity, capital, and loan loss reserves

56%	45%	6-7%	86%	749	1.2%
Market share	Return on	Annual Private	Annual	Average	Annual Net
of private	Equity*	Education Loan	Cosigner	FICO at	Charge-offs*
education loan		Originations	Rate*
	Approval*
originations2		Growth Projected
		for 20214			* Full year 2020 Metrics

3

Simple But Powerful Investment Thesis

Attractive Earnings Profile

• Consistent earnings expansion is driven by top line growth and efficiency
• Sallie Mae is the leader in the private education loan market that is growing 6+% a year

Manageable Risk

• Well-provenand disciplined underwriting model leveraging data and experience through the last recession
• Despite headlines on student lending and federal student loan performance, we are well equipped to manage the perceived political risk to our business

Disciplined Capital Allocation

• Core loan product generates very attractive ROEs
• Utilizing a hybrid hold/sell model to create capital that can be used to buy back undervalued stock

4

Clear Strategy to Prove this Investment Thesis

Maintain a rigorous

Maximize the

Optimize the value

Better inform the

profitability and

of our brand and

external narrative

and predictable

growth of our core

our attractive client

about student

capital allocation

business

base

lending and Sallie

and return program

Mae

to create

shareholder value

5