RESTON, Va., Sept. 26 2007—SLM Corporation, commonly known as Sallie Mae, announced today that it has been informed by a representative of the buyer group led by J. C. Flowers, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase that the buyer group does not expect to consummate the acquisition of Sallie Mae under the terms of the merger agreement. Sallie Mae firmly believes that the buyer group has no contractual basis to repudiate its obligations under the merger agreement and intends to pursue all remedies available to it to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Additionally, Sallie Mae noted the following:

In response to Congress’ passage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (the “Act”) and President Bush’s expected signing of the Act tomorrow, Sallie Mae has measured the Act’s adverse changes versus the impact of similar legislation described in the company’s SEC Form 10-K and concluded such changes would reduce “core earnings” net income, between 1.8 percent and 2.1 percent annually over the next 5 years, using business assumptions it has shared with the buyer group.

Lastly, in response to shareholder inquiries about interim operating performance, Sallie Mae noted:

• Preferred-channel loan originations began the new academic year with record levels in July and August.
• The managed private loan loss provision is expected to decline nearly $100 million in the third-quarter from the second-quarter 2007, reflecting improved credit quality.
• Fitch, an independent rating agency, upgraded the ratings of 12 subordinated tranches of Sallie Mae’s private education loan asset-backed securities. The securities’ remaining 22 tranches all bear AAA ratings by Fitch, Moody’s and S&P.

For more information, contact:
Tom Joyce (media) (703) 984-5610
Steve McGarry (investors) (703) 984-6746