We promote responsible borrowing and advocate for policies and solutions that support higher education access, affordability, and completion.

The Sallie Mae^® of today might surprise you. We’re not part of the federal government or a federal student loan servicer. We provide students and families with free college planning resources and responsible private student loans to cover any gaps in financing after income and savings, scholarships, grants, and other federal financial aid.

Investing in Student Success

Sallie Mae provides free planning tools and resources help students and families understand their options, compare costs, find scholarships, and make more informed decisions. Last year, more than 5 million students and families accessed these free resources.

These free tools and resources include:

• Scholly Scholarship Search which helps connect students to scholarships based on their skills and interests.
• Scout College Search which helps students explore and compare colleges based on what matters most to them – like majors, location, and cost – so they can find the right school.
• A step-by-step guide to completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
• Industry leading research on paying for college, college completion, and success after college.
• Scholarship programs like Bridging the Dream for High School Seniors, Completing the Dream, and Bridging the Dream for Grad School that help more students access and complete their education.
• Free calculators and resources to help families budget, estimate college costs, and navigate repayment.

Sallie Mae’s Approach to Lending

Private loans, like those offered by Sallie Mae, make up roughly 8% of loans today. The remaining 92% of loans outstanding are made by the federal government. If a student does need to borrow – and roughly half do – Sallie Mae believes they should borrow only what they need and what they can reasonably afford to repay.

To that end, Sallie Mae embeds a broad set of customer protections in the products that it offers. Sallie Mae conducts a thorough assessment of the customer’s ability to repay the debt – a feature that goes beyond what is available in the federal loan program. To ensure students borrow only what they need to cover their cost of attendance, Sallie Mae actively engages with schools and requires school certification before disbursing a loan. To help students understand their loan terms, Sallie Mae provides multiple, customized disclosures that include the interest rate, whether the interest rate is fixed or variable, and an estimate of the loan’s total cost. Requiring these same disclosures across federal student lending programs would give families clear, comparable information.

This disciplined approach is working. Sallie Mae customers typically pay back their loans in 6-7 years and fewer than 3% of loans in repayment default annually.

Sallie Mae also recognizes that, for some students, a loan is simply not the right answer. That’s why the company continues to advocate broader reforms including meaningfully expanding Pell grants and opportunities for low-income students, making financial aid offers easier to compare, providing more access to scholarships, and simplifying the credit transfer process to boost college completion.

Higher education remains one of the most important investments a family can make. It works best when the system is transparent, accountable, and focused on outcomes. Our work is grounded in that belief, and it’s why we advocate for policies that help make the higher education system work better for students and families.

FAFSA is a registered service mark of U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid