Washington — After weeks of bad financial news, the pink slips are being handed out at the nation’s largest student-loan company.

Sallie Mae, the government-founded lender, has announced plans to lay off about 350 workers, or about 3 percent of its work force.

Most of the job cuts are at Sallie Mae customer-call centers in Fishers, Ind.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; and Killeen, Tex. Still, Sallie Mae won’t let that affect its customer service, a company spokesman, Tom Joyce, said.

And it’s not just the phone operators losing their jobs. The company has also shed two executive vice presidents and two senior vice presidents. One of the executive vice presidents is receiving a $3.3-million severance, and the other is collecting nearly $1.8-million. The former executive vice presidents will be paid nearly $200,000 apiece in consulting contracts.

Sallie Mae’s recent financial troubles include problems covering its debts during the nationwide credit crisis brought on by subprime mortgages, and a gamble that led the company into a commitment to spend nearly $2-billion buying up stock worth less than $1-billion.

The company is able, however, to pay its new chief financial officer $1-million a year, with another $100,000 in personal flights on corporate jets, while its new chairman will get $600,000 in salary and $3.6-million in stock. —Paul Basken