Sallie Mae 2007 Annual Report Download - page 124

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of SLM Corporation:
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(1)
present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries at
December 31, 2007 and 2006, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three
years in the period ended December 31, 2007 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in
the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal
Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintain-
ing effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal
control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal
Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on these financial statements and
on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our integrated audits. We conducted our
audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the
financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial
reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the financial statements included examining,
on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the
accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial
statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understand-
ing of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing
and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits
also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe
that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable
assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external
purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over
financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in
reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;
(ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial
statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of
the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the
company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized
acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial
statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect
misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that
controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the
policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
McLean, VA
February 29, 2008
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