ADDING MULTIMEDIA Sallie Mae Employees and Concerned Citizens Urge Lawmakers to Protect Local Jobs

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(Business Wire)

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sallie Mae—the nation’s leading saving, planning and paying for education company—today announced the results to date of a multi-state petition campaign. The campaign gives the company’s employees and concerned citizens a way to express their concerns to Congress about legislation that jeopardizes local jobs and eliminates competition and choice from the student loan program.

The total number of petition signatures, 186,092, was revealed at a town hall event at Sallie Mae’s Reston headquarters. Sallie Mae employs 8,500 individuals nationwide. That workforce would be reduced by approximately 2,300 if Congress were to approve a proposal mandating a move to a 100 percent government-run student loan program. The effect on other student loan community jobs would be even more severe.

”We continue to support alternative legislation that generates $87 billion of taxpayer saving that can be delivered tomorrow with no transition risk and with job growth, not the significant job losses inherent in the Administration’s proposal,” said Albert L. Lord, vice chairman & CEO.

Legislation passed by the House of Representatives on a party line vote requires all federal student loans to be originated by the federal government, jeopardizing thousands of private sector jobs across the country and eliminating competition and choice from the federal student loan program. With the legislation now under consideration in the U.S. Senate, the community-led petition campaign asks Congress to support the Community Proposal, an alternative plan supported by Sallie Mae and a broad coalition.

The Community Proposal makes college more affordable while also preserving quality local jobs and valuable services for students. This alternative proposal will eliminate lender subsidies and have federal ownership of all student loans, generating $87 billion in mandatory federal budget savings to increase student aid.

Over its 37-year history, Sallie Mae has served more than 20 million students and families and more than 4,000 colleges and universities across the country.

For more information on the multi-state petition campaign or to learn more about the community’s alternative proposal to make college more affordable, please visit www.ProtectLocalJobs.com.

SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation’s leading provider of saving, planning and paying for education programs. Through its subsidiaries, the company manages $192 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers. Through its Upromise affiliates, the company also manages more than $21 billion in 529 college-savings plans, and is a major, private source of college funding contributions in America with 11 million members and more than $500 million in member rewards. Sallie Mae and its subsidiaries offer debt management services as well as business and technical products to a range of business clients, including higher education institutions, student loan guarantors and state and federal agencies. More information is available at www.salliemae.com. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

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Sallie Mae
Rick Castellano, 703-984-5535