Driven by dreams

History

Sallie Mae was founded by Congress in 1973 in response to the growing priority of increasing access to higher education to all Americans.

Because the risk associated with loans to students without credit histories was high, and capital was scarce, Sallie Mae was established as a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) to buy and hold student loans made by other private lenders. Sallie Mae was created to share in that risk and accepted a role in helping students repay their loans.

The program evolved into the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), which allowed students to borrow at rates well below most consumer loans and get the service and efficiency that only the private sector can deliver. Lenders were able to provide access to all students, regardless of their financial situation, by agreeing to share part of the original risk.

Having served its purpose in creating a successful student loan market, Congress allowed Sallie Mae to dissolve the GSE in 2004 to compete with other lenders in delivering better service and driving down costs at every stage of higher education funding.

Mission

In the three decades since our creation, Sallie Mae has delivered on our original mission of increasing access to higher education for all students. We have created a robust and competitive private market that delivers low-cost loans with minimal taxpayer expense. Only a few short years ago, most of our revenue came from federal student loans. Today, the majority of our return comes from our other services and products.

Values

The values we hold as a company have been acknowledged over the years through numerous awards for corporate leadership and industry excellence. While these accolades are gratifying, our real satisfaction comes from knowing that — because of our efforts — the promise of a college education for every American can be a reality now and in the years to come.