Sallie Mae to shift 2,000 jobs to U.S. from overseas

By Elinor Comlay

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Student loan company Sallie Mae plans to move its overseas operations back to the United States, creating 2,000 domestic jobs, in what analysts called an attempt to curry favor with the Obama administration.

SLM Corp, as the company is legally known, said on Monday it plans to add staff over the next 18 months in call centers, information technology and operations support across the United States. A spokeswoman said the company will pull jobs from India, Mexico and the Philippines.

The move will cost about $35 million per year, Chief Executive Albert Lord said at a press conference attended by Rep. Paul Kanjorski and Sen. Robert Casey, both Democrats from Pennsylvania, where the new jobs will be located.

"We have reversed our decision to move people offshore," Lord said at a press conference at the company's facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which will gain 600 new jobs.

Analysts called the move a bid to build political capital in Washington as the Obama administration plots major changes to the student loan market.

The administration has proposed a 2010 budget that could hurt Sallie Mae's business by shifting all federal student loans into a program administered by the Department of Education.

Michael Taiano, analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners in New York, said of Sallie Mae's maneuver, "Will it help them overturn Obama's budget proposal? I don't think so."

The company is likely hoping that moving jobs back to the United States will earn it goodwill from the administration, Taiano said, putting Sallie Mae in a better position when the details of the student loan program are worked out.