Sallie Mae 2012 Annual Report Download - page 3

FORWARD-LOOKING AND CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS
This report contains “forward-looking” statements and information based on management’s current
expectations as of the date of this document. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about
our beliefs, opinions, or expectations and statements that assume or are dependent upon future events, are
forward-looking statements. 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 this Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”); increases in financing costs; limits on liquidity; increases in costs associated with
compliance with laws and regulations; changes in accounting standards and the impact of related changes in
significant accounting estimates; any adverse outcomes in any significant litigation to which we are a party;
credit risk associated with our exposure to third parties, including counterparties to our derivative transactions;
and changes in the terms of student loans and the educational credit marketplace (including changes resulting
from new laws and the implementation of existing laws). We could also be affected by, among other things:
changes in our funding costs and availability; reductions to our credit ratings or the credit ratings of the United
States of America; failures of our operating systems or infrastructure, including those of third-party vendors;
damage to our reputation; failures to successfully implement cost-cutting and restructuring initiatives and adverse
effects of such initiatives on our 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; increased competition from banks and
other consumer lenders; the creditworthiness of our customers; changes in the general interest rate environment,
including the rate relationships among relevant money-market instruments and those of our earning assets versus
our funding arrangements; changes in general economic conditions; our ability to successfully effectuate any
acquisitions and other strategic initiatives; and changes in the demand for debt management services. The
preparation of our 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 report are qualified by these cautionary
statements and are made only as of the date of this document. We do not undertake any obligation to update or
revise these forward-looking statements to conform the statement to actual results or changes in our expectations.
Definitions for certain capitalized terms used in this document can be found in the “Glossary” at the end of
this document.
References in this Annual Report to “we,” “us,” “our” “Sallie Mae” and the “Company,” refer to SLM
Corporation and its subsidiaries, except as otherwise indicated or unless the context otherwise requires.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Our website address is www.SallieMae.com. Copies of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as any amendments to those reports, are available
free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or
furnished to the SEC. In addition, copies of our Board Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct (which
includes the code of ethics applicable to our chief executive officer, principal financial officer and principal
accounting officer) and the governing charters for each committee of our board of directors are available free of
charge on our website, as well as in print to any shareholder upon request. We intend to disclose any amendments
to or waivers from our Code of Business Conduct (to the extent applicable to our Chief Executive Officer or
Chief Financial Officer) by posting such information on our website. Information contained or referenced on our
website is not incorporated by reference into and does not form a part of this report.
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